UC-NRLF 


B  M   i43fl  D17 


SAN"' 


The  Negro  Farmer 


CARL    KELSEY 


THE  \NEGRO  FARMER 


By   CARL    KELSEY 

III 


A  THESIS  SUBMITTED  TO  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF   PENNSYLVANIA  IN 

PARTIAL  FULFILLMENT  OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS  FOR 

THE  DEGREE  OF  PH.  D. 


Printed  and  on  sale  by 
JENNINGS    &    PYE 

CHICAGO 

1903 

PRICE  FIFTY  CENTS 


V 


E 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     Introduction     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  5 

II.     Geographic  Location 9 

III.     Economic  Heritage         .         .         .         .                 .  22 

IV.     Present  Situation 29 

Virginia 32 

Sea  Coast 38 

Central  District 43 

Alluvial  Region 52 

V.     Social  Environment        .......  61 

VI.     The  Outlook 67 

VII.     Agricultural  Training     .....  71 

Population  Maps 80 


OLD-TIME  NEGROES. 


CHAPTER  I.     INTRODUCTION. 

In  the  last  three  hundred  years  there  have  been  many  ques- 
tions of  general  interest  before  the  American  people.  It  is  doubt- 
ful, however,  if  there  is  another  problem,  which  is  as  warmly  de- 
bated to-day  as  ever  and  whose  solution  is  yet  so  uncertain,  as 
that  of  the  Negro.  In  the  second  decade  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury protests  were  being  filed  against  black  slavery,  but  the  sys- 
tem was  continued  for  nearly  250  years.  The  discussion  grew 
more  and  more  bitter,  and  to  participation  in  it  ignorance,  then 
as  now,  was  no  bar.  The  North  had  less  and  less  direct  contact 
with  the  Negro.  The  religious  hostility  to  human  bondage  was 
strengthened  by  the  steadily  increasing  difference  in  economic 
development  which  resulted  in  the  creation  of  sectional  prejudices 
and  jealousies.  The  North  held  the  negro  to  be  greatly  wronged, 
and  accounts  of  his  pitiable  condition  and  of  the  many  individual 
cases  of  ill  treatment  fanned  the  flames  of  wrath.  The  reports 
of  travelers,  however,  had  little  influence  compared  with  the  re- 
ligious sentiments  which  felt  outraged  by  the  existence  of  bond 
servitude  in  the  land.  Through  all  the  years  there  was  little 
attempt  to  scientifically  study  the  character  of  the  problem  or  the 
nature  of  the  subject.  A  mistaken  economic  sentiment  in  the 
South  and  a  strong  moral  sentiment  at  the  North  rendered  such 
studies  unnecessary,  if  not  impossible.  The  South,  perceiving  the 
benefits  of  slavery,  was  blind  to  its  fundamental  weaknesses,  and 
the  North,  unacquainted  with  Negro  character,  held  to  the  natural 
equality  of  all  men.  Thus  slavery  itself  became  a  barrier  to  the 
getting  of  an  adequate  knowledge  of  the  needs  of  the  slave.  The 
feeling  grew  that  if  the  shackles  of  slavery  were  broken,  the 
Negro  would  at  once  be  as  other  men.  The  economic  differences 
finally  led  to  the  war.  It  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that  slavery  it- 
self was  not  the  cause  of  the  war,  nor  was  there  any  thought  on 
the  part  of  the  Union  leaders  to  make  the  blacks  citizens.  That 
this  was  done  later  was  a  glowing  tribute  to  their  ignorance  of 
the  real  demands  of  the  situation.  The  Republican  party  of  to-day f 
shows  no  indication  of  repeating  this  mistake  in  the  newly  ac- 
quired islands.  I  would  not  be  understood  as  opposing  suffrage 
of  the  blacks,  but  any  thoughtful  observer  must  agree  that  as  a 
race  they  were  not  prepared  for  popular  government  at  the  time 
of  their  liberation.  The  folly  of  the  measures  adopted  none  can 
fail  to  see  who  will  read  the  history  of  South  Carolina  or  Missis- 
sippi during  what  is  called  "Reconstruction." 


Immediately  after  the  war,  new  sources  of  information  re- 
garding the  Negro  were  afforded  the  North.  The  leaders  of  the 
carpet-bag  regime,  playing  political  games,  circulated  glowing 
reports  of  the  progress  of  the  ex-slaves.  A  second  class  of  per- 
sons, the  teachers,  went  South,  and  back  came  rose-colored  ac- 
counts. It  might  seem  that  the  teacher  could  best  judge  of  the 
capacity  of  a  people.  The  trouble  is  that  in  the  schools  they 
saw  the  best  specimens  of  the  race,  at  the  impressionable  period 
of  their  lives,  and  under  abnormal  conditions.  There  is  in  the 
school  an  atmosphere  about  the  child  which  stimulates  his  desire 
to  advance,  but  a  relapse  often  comes  when  ordinary  home  condi- 
tions are  renewed.  Moreover,  it  is  well  known  that  the  children 
of  all  primitive  races  are  very  quick  and  apt  up  to  a  certain 
period  in  their  lives,  excelling  often  children  of  civilized  peoples, 
but  that  this  disappears  when  maturity  is  reached.  Hence,  the 
average  teacher,  not  coming  in  close  contact  with  the  mass  of 
the  people  under  normal  surroundings,  gives,  although  sincerely, 
a  very  misleading  picture  of  actual  conditions.  A  third  class  of 
informants  were  the  tourists,  and  their  ability  to  get  at  the  heart 
of  the  situation  is  obvious.  There  remain  to  be  mentioned  the 
Negro  teachers  and  school  entrepeneurs.  Naturally  these  have 
presented  such  facts  as  they  thought  would  serve  to  open  the 
purses  of  their  hearers.  Some  have  been  honest,  many  more  un- 
intentionally dishonest,  and  others  deliberately  deceitful.  The  rel- 
ative size  of  these  classes  it  is  unnecessary  to  attempt  to  ascer- 
tain. They  have  talked  and  sung  their  way  into  the  hearts  of 
the  hearers  as  does  the  pitiful  beggar  on  the  street.  The  donor 
sees  that  evidently  something  is  needed,  and  gives  with  little,  if 
any,  careful  investigation  as  to  the  real  needs  of  the  case.  The 
result  of  it  all  has  been  that  the  testimony  of  those  who  knew 
far  more  than  was  possible  for  any  outsider,  the  southern  whites, 
has  gone  unheeded,  not  to  say  that  it  has  been  spurned  as  hos- 
tile and  valueless.  The  blame,  of  course,  is  not  always  on 
one  side,  and  as  will  be  shown  later,  there  are  many  southern 
whites  who  have  as  little  to  do  with  the  Negro,  and  conse- 
quently know  as  little  about. him,  as  the  average  New  Yorker. 
This  situation  has  been  most  unfortunate  for  all  concerned.  It 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  question  of  the  progress  of  the 
Negro  has  far  more  direct  meaning  for  the  southerner,  and  that 
he  is  far  more  deeply  interested  in  it  than  is  his  northern  brother, 
the  popular  impression  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  It  is 
.  unnecessary  to  seek  explanations,  but  it  is  a  pleasure  to  recognize 
that  there  are  many  indications  that  a  better  day  is  coming,  and 
indications  now  point  to  a  hearty  co-operation  in  educational  ef- 
forts. There  are  many  reasons  for  the  change,  and  perhaps  the 
greatest  of  these  is  summed  up  in  "Industrial  Training." 

The  North  is  slowly  learning  that  the  Negro  is  not  a  dark- 
skinned  Yankee,  and  that  thousands  of  generations  in  Africa 
have  produced  a  being  very  different  from  him  whose  ancestors 


lived  an  equal  time  in  Europe.  In  a  word,  we  now  see  that  slav- 
ery does  not  account  for  all  the  differences  between  the  blacks 
and  whites,  and  that  their  origins  lie  farther  back.  Our  ac- 
quaintance with  the  ancestors  of  the  Negro  is  meager.  We  do 
not  even  know  how  many  of  the  numerous  African  tribes  are  rep- 
resented in  our  midst.  A  good  deal  of  Semitic  blood  had  al- 
ready been  infused  into  the  more  northern  tribes.  What  influence 
did  this  have  and  how  many  descendants  of  these  tribes  are  there 
in  America?  Tribal  distinctions  have  been  hopelessly  lost 
in  this  country,  and  the  blending  has  gone  on  so  continuously 
that  perhaps  there  would  be  little  practical  benefit  if  the  stocks 
could  be  determined  to-day.  It  is,  however,  a  curious  commen- 
tary on  the  turn  discussions  of  the  question  have  taken,  that  not 
until  1902  did  any  one  find  it  advisable  to  publish  a  comprehen- 
sive studv  of  the  African  environment  and  to  trace  its  influence 
on  subsequent  development.  Yet  this  is  one  of  the  fundamental 
preliminaries  to  any  real  knowledge  of  the  subject. 

In  close  connection  with  the  preceding  is  the  question  of  the 
mulatto.  Besides  the  blending  of  African  stocks  there  has  been 
a  good  deal  of  intermixture  of  white  blood.  We  do  not  even 
know  how  many  full  blooded  Africans  there  are  in  America,  nor 
does  the  last  census  seek  to  ascertain.  Mulattoes  have  almost 
entirely  been  the  offspring  of  white  fathers  and  black  mothers, 
and  probably  most  of  the  fathers  have  been  boys  and  young 
men.  Without  attempting  a  discussion  of  this  subject,  whose  re- 
sults ethnologists  cannot  yet  tell,  it  is  certain, that  a  half  breed  is 
not  a  full  blood,  a  mulatto  is  not  a  Negro,  in  spite  of  the  social 
classification -to  the  contrary.  The  general  belief  is  that  the  mu- 
latto is  superior,  either  for  good  or  bad,  to  the  pure  Negro.  The 
visitor  to  the  South  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  fact  that 
with  rare  exceptions  the  colored  men  in  ^laces  of  responsibility, 
in  education  or  in  business,  are  evidently  not  pure  negroes.  Even 
in  slavery  times,  the  mulattoes  were  preferred  for  certain  posi- 
tions, such  as  overseers,  the  blacks  as  field  hands.  Attention  is 
called  to  this  merelv  to  show  our  ignorance  of  an  important  point. 
Some  ma^  claim  that  it  is  a  matter  of  no  consequence.  This  I 
cannot  admit.  To  me  it  seems  of  some  significance  to  know 
whether  mulattoes  (and  other  crosses)  form  more  than  their  rel- 
ative percentage  of  the  graduates  of  the  higher  schools ;  whether 
they  are  succeeding  in  business  better  than  the  blacks ;  whether 
town  life  is  proving  particularly  attractive  to  them ;  whether 
they  have  greater  or  less  moral  and  physical  stamina  than  the 
blacks.  The  lack  of  definite  knowledge  should  at  least  stop  the 
prevalent  practice  of  taking  the  progress  of  a  band  of  mulattoes 
and  attempting  to  estimate  that  of  the  Negroes  thereby.  It  may 
be  that  some  day  the  mulatto  will  entirely  supplant  the  black, 
but  there  is  no  immediate  probability  of  this.  Until  we  know 
the  facts,  our  prophecies  are  but  wild  guesses.  It  should  be  re- 
membered that  a  crossing  of  white  and  black  may  show  itself  in 


the  yellow  negro  or  the  changed  head  and  features,  either,  or 
both,  as  the  case  may  be.  A  dark  skin  is,  therefore,  no  sure  indi- 
cation of  purity  and  blood.* 

It  is  often  taken  for  granted  that  the  Negro  has  practically 
equal  opportunities  in  the  various  parts  of  the  South,  and  that 
a  fairly  uniform  rate  of  progress  may  be  expected.  This  as- 
sumption rests  on  an  ignorance  of  the  geographical  location  of 
the  mass  of  blacks.  It  will  be  shown  that  they  are  living  in 
several  distinct  agricultural  zones  in  which  success  must  be 
sought  according  to  local  possibilities.  Development  always  de- 
pends upon  the  environment,  and  we  should  expect,  therefore, 
unequal  progress  for  the  Negroes.  Even  the  highest  fruits  of 
civilization  fail  if  the  bases  of  life  are  suddenly  changed.  The 
Congregational  Church  has  not  flourished  among  the  Negroes 
as  have  some  other  denominations,  in  spite  of  its  great  activky 
in  educational  work.  The  American  mode  of  government  is  be- 
ing greatly  modified  to  make  it  fit  conditions  in  Porto  Rico.  The 
manufacturers  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  farmers  of  Iowa  do  not 
agree  as  to  the  articles  on  which  duties  should  be  levied,  and 
it  is  a  question  if  the  two  have  the  same  interpretation  of  the 
principle  of  protection.  Different  environments  produce  differ- 
on  t  types.  So  it  will  be  in  the  case  of  the  Negro.  ,  If  we  are  to 
understand  the  conditions  on  which  his  progress  depends,  we 
must  pay  some  attention  to  economic  geography.  That  this  will 
result  in  a  recognition  of  the  need  for  shaping  plans  and  methods 
according  to  local  needs  is  obvious.  The  present  thesis  does  not 
pretend  to  be  a  completed  study,  much  less  an  attempt  to  solve 
the  Negro  problem.  It  is  written  in  the  hope  of  calling  attention 
to  some  of  the  results  of  this  geographic  location  as  illustrated 
in  the  situation  of  the  Negro  farmer  in  various  parts  of  the  South. 

The  attempt  is  made  to  describe  the  situation  of  the  average 
man.  It  is  fully  recognized  that  there  are  numbers  of  exceptions 
among  the  Negroes  as  well  as  among  the  white  school  teachers, 
referred  to  above.  That  there  is  much  in  the  present  situation, 
both  of  encouragement  and  discouragement,  is  patent.  Unfor- 
tunately, most  of  us  shut  our  eyes  to  one  or  the  other  set  of  facts 
and  are  wildly  optomistic  or  pessimistic,  accordingly.  That  there 
may  be  no  misunderstanding  of  my  position,  let  me  say  that  I 
agree  with  the  late  Dr.  J.  L.  M.  Curry  in  stating  that :  '"I  have 
very  little  respect  for  the  intelligence  or  the  patriotism  of  the  man 
who  doubts  the  capacity  of  the  negro  for  improvement  or  useful- 
ness." 

*See  article  by  A.  H.  Stone.    Atlantic  Monthly,  May,  1903. 


CHAPTER  II.     GEOGRAPHIC  LOCATION. 

The  great  Appalachian  system,  running  parallel  to  the  Atlan- 
tic coast,  and  ending  in  northern  Alabama,  forms  the  geological 
axis  of  the  southern  states.  Bordering  the  mountains  proper  is 
a  broad  belt  of  hills  known  as  the  Piedmont  or  Metamorphic  re- 
gion, marked  by  granite  and  other  crystalline  rocks,  and'  having 
an  elevation  decreasing  from  1,000  to  500  feet.  The  soil  varies 
according  to  the  underlying  rocks,  but  is  thin  and  washes  badly, 
if  carelessly  tilled.  The  oaks,  hickories  and  other  hardwoods, 
from  the  forests.  In  Virginia  this  section  meets  the  lower  and 
flatter  country  known  as  Tide- Water  Virginia.  In  the  southern 
part  of  this  state  we  come  to  the  Pine  Hills,  which  follow  the 
Piedmont  and  stretch,  interrupted  only  by  the  alluvial  lands  of  the 
Mississippi,  to  central  Texas.  The  Pine  Hills  seldom  touch  the 
Piedmont  directly,  but  are  separated  by  a  narrow  belt  of  Sand 
Hills,  which  run  from  North  Carolina  to  Alabama,  then  swing 
northward  around  the  coal  measures  and  spread  out  in  Tennessee 
and  Kentucky.  This  region,  in  general  of  poor  soils,  marks  the 
falls  of  the  rivers  and  the  head  of  navigation.  How  important 
this  is  may  easily  be  seen  by  noticing  the  location  of  the  cities 
in  Georgia,  for  instance,  and  remembering  that  the  country  was 
settled  before  the  day  of  railroads.  In  Alabama  the  Black  Prairie 
is  interposed  between  the  Pine  Hills  and  the  Sand  Hills,  and  this 
prairie  swings  northward  into  Mississippi.  The  Pine  Hills  give 
way  to  the  more  level  Pine  Flats,  which  slope  with  a  gradient  of 
a  few  feet  a  mile  to  the  ocean  or  the  gulf,  which  usually  has  a 
narrow  alluvial  border.  Going  west  from  Alabama  we  cross  the 
oak  and  hickory  lands  of  Central  Mississippi,  which  are  separated 
from  the  alluvial  district  by  the  cane  hills  and  yellow  loam  table 
lands.  Beyond  the  bottom  lands  of  the  Mississippi  (and  Red 
river)  we  come  to  the  oak  lands  of  Missouri,  Arkansas  and  Texas 
which  stretch  to  the  black  prairies  of  Texas,  which,  bordering 
the  red  lands  of  Arkansas,  run  southwest  finally,  merging  in 
the  coast  prairies  near  Austin.  In  the  northern  part  of  Arkansas 
we  come  to  the  foothills  of  the  O'zarks.  These  different  regions 
are  shown  by  the  dotted  lines  on  the  population  maps. 

The  soils  of  these  various  regions  having  never  been  sub- 
jected to  a  glacial  epoch,  are  very  diverse,  and  it  would  be  a 
thankless  task  to  attempt  any  detailed  classification  on  the  basis 
of  fertility.  The  soils  of  the  Atantic  side  being-  largely  from  the 
crystalline  rocks  and  containing  therefore  much  r.ilica,  are  re- 


puted  less  fertile  than  the  gulf  soils.  The  alluvial  lands  of  the 
Mississippi  and  other  rivers  are  beyond  question  the  richest  of 
all.  Shaler  says :  "The  delta  districts  of  the  Mississippi  and  its 
tributaries  and  similar  alluvial  lands  which  occupy  broad  fields 
near  the  lower  portion  of  other  streams  flowing  into  the  gulf 
have  proved  the  most  enduringly  fertile  areas  of  the  country." 
Next  to  these  probably  stand  the  black  prairies.  In  all  states 
there  is  more  or  less  alluvial  land  along  the  streams,  and  this 
soil  is  always  the  best.  It  is  the  first  land  brought  into  cultiva- 
tion when  the  country  is  settled,  and  remains  most  constantly 
in  use.  Each  district  has  its  own  advantages  and  its  own  diffi- 
culties. In  the  metam orphic  regions,  the  trouble  comes  in  the 
attempt  to  keep  the  soil  on  the  hills,  while  in  the  fiat  lands  the 
problem  is  to  get  proper  drainage.  In  the  present  situation  of 
the  Negro  farmer  the  adaptability  of  the  soil  to  cotton  is  the  chief 
consideration. 

The  first  slaves  were  landed  at  Jamestown,  Virginia,  in  1619. 
The  importation  was  continued  in  spite  of  many  protests,  and  the 
practice  soon  came  into  favor.  Almost  without  interruption,  in 
spite  of  various  prohibitions,  the  slave  traffic  lasted  right  up  to 
the  very  outbreak  of  the  war,  most  of  the  later  cargoes  being 
landed  along  the  gulf  coast.  Slavery  proved  profitable  at  the 
South;  not  so  at  the  North,  where  it  was  soon  abandoned. 
It  was  by  no  means,  however,  equally  profitable  in  all  parts  of 
the  South,  and  as  time  went  on  this  fact  became  more  noticeable. 
Thus  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  Kentucky  and  Virginia  were 
largely  employed  in  selling  slaves  to  the  large  plantations  further 
south.  Few  new  slaves  had  been  imported  into  Virginia  in  the 
last  one  hundred  years.  The  center  of  slavery  thus  moved  south- 
west because  of  changing  economic  conditions,  not  because  of  any 
inherent  opposition  to  the  system.  This  gradual  weeding  out  of 
the  slaves  in  Virginia  may  very  possibly  account  for  the  gen- 
eral esteem  in  which  Virginia  negroes  have  been  held.  To  in- 
dicate the  character  of  those  sold  South,  Bracket*  gives  a  quo- 
tation from  a  Baltimore  paper  of  1851  which  advertised  some 
good  Negroes  to  be  "exchanged  for  servants  suitable  for  the  South 
with  bad  characters." 

To  trace  the  development  of  the  slave-holding  districts  is  not 
germain  to  the  present  stdy,  interesting  as  it  is  in  itself.  It  may 
be  worth  while  to  trace  the  progress  in  one  state.  In  Georgia, 
in  1800,  the  blacks  outnumbered  the  whites  in  the  seacoast  coun- 
ties, excepting  Camden,  and  were  also  in  the  majority  in  Rich- 
mond. In  1830  they  also  outnumbered  the  whites  along  the  Sa- 
vannah river  and  were  reaching  westward  as  far  as  Jones  county. 
In  1850,  besides  the  coast  and  the  river,  they  were  in  a  majority 
in  a  narrow  belt  crossing  the  state  from  Lincoln  to  Harris  coun- 
ties. By  1860  they  had  swung  southward  in  the  western  part  of 

*"The  Negro  in  Maryland." 

10 


the  state  and  were  in  possession  of  most  of  the  counties  south 
of  Troup,  while  the  map  of  1900  shows  that  they  have  added  to 
this  territory.  In  other  parts  of  the  state  they  have  never  been 
greatly  in  evidence.  The  influence  of  the  rivers  is  again  evident 
when  we  notice  that  they  moved  up  to  the  head  of  navigation, 
then  swung  westward. 

As  slavery  developed,  it  was  accompanied  by  a  great  exten- 
sion of  cotton  growing,  or,  perhaps,  it  were  truer  to  say  that  the 
gradual  rise  of  cotton  planting  made  possible  the  increased  use 
of  slaves.  The  center  of  the  cotton  industry  had  reached  the 
middle  of  Alabama  by  1850,  was  near  Jackson,  Mississippi,  in 
1860,  and  has  since  moved  slowly  westward.  The  most  prosper- 
ous district  of  the  South  in  186©  was  probably  the  alluvial  lands 
of  the  Mississippi.  This  gives  us  the  key  to  the  westward  trend 
of  slavery.  Let  it  be  remembered,  too,  that  the  system  of  slav- 
ery demands  an  abundance  of  new  lands  to  take  the  place  of  those 
worn  out  by  the  short-sighted  cultivation  adopted.  Thus  in  the 
South  little  attention  was  paid  to  rotation  of  crops  or  to  fertiliz- 
ers. As  long  as  the  new  land  was  abundant,  it  was  not  considered, 
and  probably  was  not  profitable  to  keep  up  the  old.  The  result 
was  that  "the  wild  and  reckless  system  of  extensive  cultivation 
practiced  prior  to  the  war  had  impoverished  the  land  of  every 
cotton-producing  state  east  of  the  Mississippi  river."  As  cot- 
ton became  less  and  less  profitable  in  the  east  the  opening  up 
of  the  newer  and  richer  lands  in  the  west  put  the  eastern  planter 
in  a  more  and  more  precarious  situation.  Had  cotton  fallen  to 
anything  like  its  present  price  in  the  years  immediately  preced- 
ing the  war,  his  lot  would  have  been  far  worse. 

Another  influence  should  be  noted.  Slavery  tended  to  drive 
out  of  a  community  those  who  opposed  the  system,  and  also  the 
poor  whites,  non-slave  holders.  The  planters  sought  to  buy  out 
or  expel  this  latter  class,  because  of  the  temptation  they ,  were 
under  to  incite  the  slaves  to  steal  corn  and  cotton  and  sell  it  to 
them  at  a  low  price.  There  was  also  trouble  in  many  other  ways. 
There  was  thus  a  tendency  to  separate  the  mass  of  the  blacks 
from  the  majority  of  the  whites.  That  this  segregation  actually 
arose  a  map  of  the  proportionate  populations  for  Alabama  in  1860 
shows.  It  may  be  claimed  that  there  .were  other  reasons  for  this 
separation,  such  as  climatic  conditions,  etc.  This  may  be  partial- 
ly true,  but  it  evidently  cannot  be  the  principal  reason,  for  we 
find  the  whites  in  the  majority  in  many  of  the  lowest  and  theoret- 
ically most  unhealthful  regions,  as  in  the  pine  flats.  This  is  the 
situation  to-day  also. 

The  influence  of  the  rivers  in  determining  the  settlement  of 
the  country  has  been  mentioned.  Nowhere  was  this  more  the 
case  than  in  the  alluvial  lands  of  the  Mississippi,  the  so-called 
"Delta."  This  country  was  low  and  flat,  subject  to  overflows  of 
the  river.  The  early  settlements  were  directly  on  the  banks  of  the 
navigable  streams,  because  this  only  was  accessible,  and  because 


the  land  immediately  bordering  the  streams  is  higher  than  the 
back  land.  Levees  were  at  once  started  to  control  the  rivers,  but 
not  until  the  railroads  penetrated  the  country  in  1884  was  there 
any  development  of  the  back  land.  Even  to-day  most  of  this  is 
still  wild. 

The  war  brought  numerous  changes,  but  it  is  only  in  place 
here  to  consider  those  affecting  the  location  of  the  people.  The 
mobility  of  labor  is  one  of  the  great  changes.  Instead  of  a  fixed 
labor  force  we  now  have  to  deal  with  a  body  relatively  free  to 
go  and  come.  The  immediate  result  is  that  a  stream  of  emigra- 
tion sets  in  from  the  border  states  to  the  cities  of  the  North, 
where  there  was  great  opportunity  for  servants  and  all  sorts  of 
casual  labor.  The  following  table  shows  the  number  of  negroes 
in  various  northern  cities  in  1860  and  also  in  1900: 

1860.  1900. 

Washington 10,983  86,702 

Baltimore    27,898  79,258 

Philadelphia   22,185  62,613 

New  York 16,785  60,666 

St.  Louis 3,297  3535i6 

Chicago 955  30,150 

Coincident  with  the  movement  to  the  more  distant  towns 
came  a  development  of  southern  cities.  City  life  has  been  very 
attractive  to  Negroes  here  also,  as  the  following  table  indicates : 

1860.  1900. 

New  Orleans  24,074  77,714 

Atlanta 1,939  35,727 

Richmond    14,275  32,230 

Charleston  17,146  31,522 

Savannah  8,417  28,090 

Montgomery  4,5O2  17,229 

Birmingham 16,575 

Other  cities  show  the  same  gains.  As  a  rule,  the  negro  has 
been  the  common  laborer  in  the  cities  and  in  the  trades  does  not 
seem  to  hold  the  same  relative  position  he  had  in  1860.  In  re- 
cent years  there  has  been  quite  a  development  of  small  trades- 
men among  them. 

A  comparison  of  the  two  tables  shows  that  Washington  and 
Baltimore  have  more  Negroes  than  New  Orleans ;  that  St.  Louis 
has  more  than  Atlanta  and  Richmond,  while  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  contain  double  the  number  of  Savannah  and  Charles- 
ton. This  emigration  to  the  North  has  had  great  effect  upon 
many  districts  of  the  South.  It  seems  also  to  be  certain  that  the 
Negroes  have  not  maintained  themselves  in  the  northern  cities,  and 
that  the  population  has  been  kept  up  by  constant  immigration. 
What  this  has  meant  we  may  see  when  we  find  that  in  1860  the 
Negroes  were  in  the  majority  in  five  counties  in  Maryland,  in  two 
in  1900;  in  43  in  Virginia  in  1860,  in  35  in  1900;  in  North  Caro- 
lina in  19  in  1860,  in  15  in  1900. 

The  map  on  page  13  shows  the  movement  of  the  Negro  pop- 
ulation in  Virginia  between  1890  and  1900.  The  shaded  coun- 

12 


ties,  60  in  number,  have  lost  in  actual  population  (Negro).  The 
total  actual  decrease  in  these  counties  was  over  27,000.  Even  in 
the  towns  there  has  been  a  loss,  for  in  1890  the  twelve  towns  of 
over  2,500  population  contained  32,692  Negroes.  In  1900  only 
29,575.  The  only  section  in  which  there  has  been  a  heavy  in- 
crease is  the  seacoast  from  Norfolk  and  Newport  News  to  the 
north  and  including  Richmond.  A  city  like  Roanoke  also  makes 
its  presence  felt.  When  we  remember  that  the  Negroes  in  Vir- 
ginia number  over  600,000,  and  that  the  total  increase  in  the 
decade  was  only  25,000,  a  heavy  emigration  becomes  clear. 

As  a  common  laborer  also  the  negro  has  borne  his  part  in  the 
development  of  the  economical  resources  of  the  South.  He  has 
built  the  railroads  and  levees ;  has  hewn  lumber  in  the  forests ; 
has  dug  phosphate  rock  on  the  coast  and  coal  in  the  interior. 
Wherever  there  has  been  a  development  of  labor  industry  calling 
for  unskilled  labor  he  has  found  a  place.  All  these  have  com- 
bined to  turn  him  from  the  farm,  his  original  American  home. 
The  changing  agricultural  conditions  which  have  had  a  similar 
influence  will  be  discussed  later. 

Having  thus  briefly  reviewed  the  influences  which  have  had 
part  in  determining  his  general  habitat  we  are  ready  to  examine 
more  closely  his  present  location.  The  maps  of  the  Negro  popu- 
lation will  show  this  for  the  different  states.  A  word  regarding 
these  maps.  They  are  drawn  on  the  same  scale,  and  the  shading 
represents  the  same  things  for  the  different  states.  The  density 
map  should  always  be  compared  with  the  proportionate  map  to 
get  a  correct  view  of  the  actual  situation.  If  this  is  not  done, 
confused  ideas  will  result.  On  the  density  maps  if  a  county  has 
a  much  heavier  shading  than  surrounding  ones,  a  city  is  probably 
the  explanation.  The  reverse  may  be  true  on  the  proportionate 
maps  where  the  lighter  shading  may  indicate  the  presence  of 
numbers  of  whites  in  some  city,  as  in  Montgomery  county,  Ala- 
bama, or  Charleston  county,  South  Carolina. 

Beginning  with  Virginia,  we  find  almost  no  Negroes  in  the 
western  mountain  districts,  but  their  numbers  increase  as  we 
approach  the  coast  and  their  center  is  in  the  southeast.  The  heavy 
district  in  North  Carolina  adjoins  that  in  Virginia,  diminishing 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  state.  Entering  South  Carolina  we 
discover  a  much  heavier  population,  both  actually  and  relatively. 
Geographical  foundations  unfortunately  (for  our  purpose)  do 
not  follow  county  lines.  It  is  very  likely,  however,  that  could 
we  get  at  the  actual  location  of  the  people,  we  should  find  that 
they  had  their  influence.  Evidently  the  Sand  Hills  have  some 
significance,  for  the  density  map  shows  a  lighter  negro  popula- 
tion. So  does  the  Pine  Flats  district,  although  in  this  state  the 
Negroes  are  in  the  majority  in  the  region,  having  been  long  set- 
tled in  the  race  districts.  In  no  other  state  do  the  blacks  out- 
number the  whites  in  the  Pine  Flats.  In  Georgia  the  northern 
part  is  in  possession  of  the  whites,  as  are  the  Pine  Flats.  The 


Negroes  hold  the  center  and  the  coast.  In  Florida  the  Negroes  are 
in  the  Pine  Hills.  In  Alabama  they  center  in  the  Pine  Hills 
and  Black  Prairie.  In  Mississippi,  Arkansas  and  Louisiana  they 
are  in  the  alluvial  regions,  and  in  Texas  they  find  their  heaviest 
seat  near  Houston.  Outside  of  the  city  counties  we  do  not  find 
a  population  of  over  30  negroes  to  the  square  mile  until  South 
Carolina  is  reached,  and  the  heaviest  settlement  is  in  the  black 
prairie  of  Alabama  and  the  alluvial  region  of  Mississippi,  and 
part  of  Louisiana.  In  Tennessee  they  are  found  along  the  river 
and  in  the  red  lands  of  the  center,  while  in  Kentucky  they  are 
chiefly  located  in  the  Limestone  district.  Summarizing  their  lo- 
cation, we  may  say  that  they  start  in  the  east-central  portion  of 
Virginia  and  follow  the  line  of  the  Pine  Hills  to  Alabama,  only 
slightly  encroaching  upon  the  Metamorphic  district,  and  except 
in  South  Carolina,  on  the  pine  flats.  They  occupy  the  black 
prairie  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi,  and  the  lands  of  the  river 
states  with  a  smaller  population  in  the  Oak  Hills  of 'Texas,  the 
red  lands  of  Tennessee  and  some  of  the  limestone  district  of  Ken- 
tucky. It  is  worth  while  to  examine  one  state  more  in  detail  and 
Alabama  has  been  selected  as  being  typical.  The  Negro  propor- 
tion in  the  state  in  1860  was  45.4  per  cent,  and  in  1900  was  45.2 
per  cent. 

An  examination  of -a  proportionate  map  for  1860  would  show 
that  the  slave  owners  found  two  parts  of  the  state  favorable  to 
them.  The  first  is  along  the  Tennessee  river  in  the  North,  and 
the  second,  the  black  prairie  of  the  center.  Of  these  the  latter 
was  by  far  the  seat  of  the  heavier  population.  It  has  already  been 
suggested  that  this  was  probably  the  best  land  in  the  slave  states, 
save  the  alluvial  bottoms.  Both  districts  were  accessible  by  water. 
The  Tombigbee  and  Alabama  rivers  reached  all  parts  of  the 
prairie,  the  Tennessee  forming  the  natural  outlet  of  the  North. 
By  referring  now  to  the  map  of  1900,  it  is  evident  that  some 
changes  have  taken  place.  The  prairie  country,  the  "Black 
Belt,"  is  still  in  the  possession  of  the  Negroes,  and  their  percent- 
age is  larger,  having  increased  from  71  to  80.  The  population 
per  square  mile  is  also  heavier.  Dallas,  Sumter  and  Lowndes 
counties  had  a  Negro  population  of  23.6  per  square  mile  in  1860, 
and  39.2  in  1900.  In  the  northern  district  an  opposite  condition 
exists.  In  1860  the  region  embracing  the  counties  of  Lauderdale, 
Limestone,  Franklin,  Colbert,  Lawrence  and  Morgan  had  a  colored 
population  forming  44.5  per  cent  of  the  total.  In  1900  the  Negroes 
were  but  33  per  cent  of  the  total.  The  district  contains  some 
4,609  square  miles,  and  had  in  1860  a  Negro  population  of  n  to 
the  square  mile;  in  1900,  13.5.  Of  this  increase  of  2.5  per  mile, 
about  one-half  is  found  to  be  in  the  four  towns  of  the  district 
whose  population  is  over  2,500  each.  The  smaller  villages  would 
probably  account  for  most  of  the  balance,  so  it  seems  safe  to  say 
that  the  farming  population  has  scarcely  increased  in  the  last 
forty  years.  Meantime  the  whites  in  the  district  have  increased 


from  12  per  square  mile  to  25.4.  The  census  shows  that  be- 
tween 1890  and  1900  six  counties  of  North  Alabama  lost  in  the 
actual  Negro  population,  and  two  others  were  stationary,  while 
in  the  black  belt  the  whites  decreased  in  four  counties  and  were 
stationary  in  two.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  Negroes  have  gained 
in  Jefferson  (Birmingham)  and  Talledega  counties.  The  oppor- 
tunities for  unskilled  labor  account  largely  for  this,  and  Talladega 
is  also  a  good  cotton  county.  In  Winston  and  Cullman  counties 
there  are  practically  no  Negroes,  the  census  showing  but  28  in 
the  two.  In  1860  they  formed  3  per  cent  of  the  total  in  Winston 
and  6  percent  in  Blount,  which  at  that  time  included  Cullman. 
The  explanation  of  their  disappearance  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
since  the  war  these  counties  have  been  settled  by  Germans  from 
about  Cincinnati,  and  the  Negroes  have  found  it  convenient  to 
move.  Roughly  speaking,  the  poor  land  of  the  Sand  Hills  sepa- 
rates the  white  farmers  from  the  colored.  From  1890  to  1900 
the  Negroes  lost  relatively  in  the  Metamorphic  and  Sand  Hills, 
were  about  stationary  in  the  Prairie,  from  which  they  have  over- 
flowed and  gained  in  the  Oak  Hills,  and  more  heavily  in  the 
Pine  Hills.  This  statement  is  based  on  an  examination  of  five 
or  six  counties,  lying  almost  wholly  within  each  of  the  districts, 
and  which,  so  far  as  known,  were  not  affected  by  the  develop- 
ment of  any  special  industry.  The  period  is  too  short  to  do  more 
than  indicate  that  the  separation  of  the  two  races  seems  to  be 
still  going  on.  A  similar  separation  exists  in  Mississippi,  where 
the  Negroes  hold  the  Black  Prairie  and  the  Delta,  the  whites  the 
hill  country  of  the  center. 

It  is  evident  that  there  is  a  segregation  of  the  whites  and 
blacks,  and  that  there  are  forces  which  tend  to  perpetuate  and  in- 
crease this.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  whereas  in  slavery  the 
cabins  were  grouped  in  the  "quarters,"  in  close  proximity  to  the 
"big  house"  of  the  master,  they  are  now  scattered  about  the  plan- 
tation so  that  even  here  there  is  less  contact.  In  the  cities  this 
separation  is  evident  the  blacks  occupy  definite  districts,  while 
the  social  separation  is  complete.  It  seems  that  in  all  matters  out- 
side of  business  relations  the  whites  have  less  and  less  to  do  with 
the  blacks.  If  this  division  is  to  continue,  we  may  well  ask  what 
is  its  significance  for  the  future. 

This  geographical  segregation  evidently  had  causes  which 
were  largely  economic.  Probably  the  ^  most  potent  factor '  to-day 
in  perpetuating  it  is  social,  i.  e.,  race  antagonism.  The  whites  do 
not  like  to  settle  in  a  region  where  they  are  to  compete  with  the 
Negro  on  the  farms  as  ordinary  field  hands.  Moreover,  the 
Negroes  retain  their  old-time  scorn  of  such  whites  and  despise 
them.  The  result  is  friction.  Mr.  A.  H.  Stone  cites  a  case  in 
point.  He  is  speaking  of  a  Negro  serving  a  sentence  for  attempt- 
ed rape:  "I  was  anxious  to  know  how,  if  at  all,  "he  accounted 
for  his  crime,  but  he  was  reluctant  to  discuss  it.  Finally  he  said 
to  me :  'You  don't  understand — things  over  here  are  so  differ- 


16 


ent.  I  hired  to  an  old  man  over  there  by  the  year.  He  had  only 
about  forty  acres  of  land,  and  he  and  his  old  folks  did  all  their 
own  work — cooking,  washing  and  everything.  I  was  the  only 
outside  hand  he  had.  His  daughter  worked  right  alongside  of 
me  in  the  field  every  day  for  three  or  four  months.  Finally,  one 
day,  when  no  one  else  was  round,  hell  got  into  me,  and  I  tried  to 
rape  her.  But  you  folks  over  there  can't  understand — things  are 
so  different.  Over  here  a  nigger  is  a  nigger,  and  a  white  man 
is  a  white  man,  and  it's  the  same  with  the  women.'  .  .  .  Her  only 
crime  was  a  poverty  which  compelled  her  to  do  work  which,  in  the 
estimation  of  the  Negro,  was  reserved  as  the  natural  portion  of 
his  own  race,  and  the  doing  of  w.hich  destroyed  the  relation  which 
otherwise  constituted  a  barrier  to  his  brutality."* 

Mr.  Stone  has  touched  upon  one  of  the  most  delicate  ques- 
tions in  the  relationship  of  the  races.  It  would  be  out  of  place 
to  discuss  it  here,  but  attention  must  be  called  to  the  fact  that 
there  is  the  least  of  such  trouble  in  the  districts  where  the  Negro 
forms  the  largest  percentage  of  the  population.  I  would  not  be 
so  foolish  as  to  say  that  assaults  upon  white  women  may  not  take 
place  anywhere,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  they  seem  to  occur  chiefly 
in  those  regions  where  white  and  black  meet  as  competitors  for 
ordinary  labor.  Beaufort  County,  South  Carolina,,  has  a  black 
population  forming  about  90  per  cent  of  the  total,  yet  I  was  told 
last  summer  that  but  one  case  of  rape  had  been  known  in  the 
county,  and  that  took  place  on  the  back  edge  of  the  county  where 
there  are  fewest  Negroes,  and  was  committed  by  a  non-resident 
black  upon  a  non-resident  white.  Certain  it  is  that  in  this  county, 
which  includes  many  islands,  almost  wholly  inhabitated  by  blacks, 
the  white  women  have  no  fear  of  such  assaults.  This  is  also  the 
case  in  the  Mississippi  Delta.  Mr.  Stone  says :  "Yet  here  we 
hear  nothing  about  an  ignorant  mass  of  Negroes  dragging  the 
white  man  down;  we  hear  of  no  black  incubus ;  we  have  few 
midnight  assassinations  and  fewer  lynchings.  The  violation  by 
a  Negro  of  the  person  of  a  white  woman  is  with  us  an  unknown 
crime ;  nowhere  is  the  line  marking  the  social  separation  of  the 
races  more  rigidly  drawn,  nowhere  are  the  relations  between  the 
races  more  kindly.  With  us  race  riots  are  unknown,  and  we  have 
but  one  Negro  problem — though  that  constantly  confronts  us — 
how  to  secure  more  Negroes."  Evidently  when  we  hear  reports 
of  states  of  siege  and  rumors  of  race  war,  we  are  not  to  under- 
stand that  this  is  the  normal,  typical  condition  of  the  entire  South. 
If  this  is  the  real  situation,  it  seems  clear  that  the  geographical 
segregation  plays  no  mean  part  in  determining  the  relation  of  the 
two  races.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  there  is  a  different  feeling  be- 
tween the  races  in  the  districts  where  the  white  is  known  only 
as  the  leader  and  those  in  which  he  comes  into  competition  \vith 
the  black.  What  is  the  significance  of  this  for  the  future? 

*The  Negro  in  the  Yazoo-Mississippi  Delta. 

17 


The  same  condition  exists  in  the  cities,  and  of  this  Professor 
Dubois  has  taken  note :  "Savannah  is  an  old  city  where  the 
class  of  masters  among  the  whites  and  of  trained  and  confidential 
slaves  among  the  Negroes  formed  an  exceptionally  large  part  of 
the  population.  The  result  has  been  unusual  good  feeling  be- 
tween the  races,  and  the  entrance  of  Negroes  into  all  walks  of  in- 
dustrial life,  with  little  or  no  opposition."  "Atlanta,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  quite  opposite  in  character.  Here  the  poor  whites  from 
North  Georgia  who  neither  owned  slaves  nor  had  any  acquaint- 
ance with  Negro  character,  have  .come  into  contact  and  severe 
competition  with  the  blacks.  The  result  has  been  intense  race 
feeling."*  In  one  of  the  large  towns  of  the  Delta  last  summer,  a 
prosperous  Negro  merchant  said  to  me,  in  discussing  the  com- 
parative opportunities  of  different  sections  :  "I  would  not  be  al- 
lowed to  have  a  store  on  the  main  street  in  such  a  good  location  in 
many  places."  Yet,  his  store  is  patronized  by  whites ;  and  this 
would  be  true  in  many  towns  in  the  black  belt.  Other  evidences 
of  the  difference  in  feeling  towards  the  Negroes  is  afforded  by  the 
epithets  of  "hill-billies"  and  "red-necks"  applied  to  the  whites 
of  the  hill  country  by  the  lowland  planters,  and  the  retaliatory 
compliments  "yell6w-bellies"  and  ( 'nigger-lovers."  Does  this 
geographical  segregation  help  to  explain  the  strikingly  diverse 
reports  coming  from  various  parts  of  the  South  regarding  the 
Negro?  Why  does  Dr.  Paul  Barringer,  of  Virginia,  find  that 
race  antagonism  is  rapidly  growing,  while  Mr.  Stone  of  Missis- 
sippi, says  that  their  problem  is  to  get  more  Negroes? 

The  influence  that  this  segregation  has  upon  school  facilities 
for  both  races  should  not  be  overlooked.  The  separation  of  the 
two  races  in  the  schools  is  to  be  viewed  as  the  settled  policy  of 
the  South.  Here,  then,  is  a  farming  community  in  which  there 
are  only  a  few  Negroes.  What  sort  of  a  separate  school  will 
be  maintained  for  their  children?  Probably  they  are  unable  to 
support  a  good  school,  even  should  they  so  desire.  The  oppor- 
tunities of  their  children  must  necessarily  be  limited.  Will  they 
make  greater  progress  than  children  in  the  districts  where  the 
blacks  are  in  large  numbers  and  command  good  schools?  If  the 
situation  be  reversed  and  there  are  a  few  whites  in  a  black  com- 
munity, the  whites  will  be  able  to  command  excellent  private 
schools  for  their  children,  if  necessary.  At  present  among  the 
males  over  21,  the  greatest  illiteracy  is  found  in  the  black  coun- 
ties. This  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  presence  of  the  older 
generation,  which  had  little  chance  in  the  schools,  and  by  the 
fact  that  perhaps  those  moving  away  have  been  the  more  progres- 
sive. It  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  the  census  does  not  permit  us 
to  ascertain  the  illiteracy  among  the  children  from  10  to  21  years 
.of  age,  to  see  if  any  difference  was  manifest.  It  would  seem,  how- 
ever, that  ^his  segregation,  coupled  with  race  antagonism,  is 

*Bulletin,  Department  of  Labor,  No.  35. 

18 


bound  to  affect  the  educational  opportunities  for  the  blacks.  A 
problem  which  becomes  more  serious  as  the  states  waken  to  the 
needs  of  the  case  and  attempt  to  educate  their  children. 

Yet  again,  this  fact  of  habitat  should  lead  us  to  be  very  chary 
of  making  local  facts  extend  over  the  entire  South  and  of  making 
deductions  for  the  entire  country  based  on  observations  in  a  few 
places.  Neglect  of  this  precaution  often  leads  to  very  erroneous 
and  misleading  conceptions  of  actual  conditions.  For  instance, 
on  page  419,  Vol.  VI,  Census  of  1900,  in  discussing  the  fact 
that  Negro  receives  nearly  as  much  per  acre  for  his  cotton  as 
does  the  white,  it  is  stated :  "Considering  the  fact  that  he 
emerged  from  slavery  only  one-third  of  a  century  ago,  and  con- 
sidering also  his  comparative  lack  of  means  for  procuring  the 
best  land  or  for  getting  the  best  results  from  what  he  has,  this 
near  approach  to  the  standard  attained  by  the  white  man's  experi- 
ence for  more  than  a  century  denotes  remarkable  progress." 
This  may  or  may  not  be  true,  but  the  reason  and  proof  are  open 
to  question.  It  assumes  that  the  land  cultivated  by  the  Negroes 
is  of  the  same  quality  as  that  farmed  by  the  whites.  This  cer- 
tainly is  not  true  of  Arkansas,  of  which  it  is  stated  that  "Arkan- 
sas shows  a  greater  production  per  acre  by  colored  farmers  for 
all  three  tenures."  The  three  tenures  are  owners,  cash-tenants, 
share-tenants.  Mississippi  agrees  with  Arkansas  in  showing 
higher  production  for  both  classes  of  tenants.  Are  we  to  infer 
that  the  Negroes  in  Arkansas  and  Mississippi  are  better  farmers 
than  the  whites,  and  that,  therefore,  their  progress  has  infinitely 
surpassed  his?  By  no  means.  The  explanation  is  that  in  the 
two  states  mentioned  the  Negroes  cultivate  the  rich  bottom  land 
while  the  white  farmers  are  found  in  the  hills.  The  alluvial  land 
easily  raises  twice  the  cotton,  and  that  of  a  better  quality,  com- 
manding about  a  cent  a  pound  more  in  the  market.  There  may 
possibly  be  similar  conditions  in  other  states ;  certainly  in  Ala- 
bama the  black  prairie  tilled  by  the  Negroes  is  esteemed  better 
than  the  other  land.  Since  this  wa!s  first  written  I  have  chanced 
upon  the  report  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Alabama  for  1881 
and  1882,  in  which  Mr.  E.  A.  Smith  sums  up  this  same  problem 
as  follows: 

"(i)  That  where  the  blacks  are  in  excess  of  the  whites,  there  are  the 
originally  most  fertile  lands  of  the  state.  The  natural  advantages  of  the 
soils  are,  however,  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  bad  system  prevailing 
in  such  sections,  viz. ;  large  farms  rented  out  in  patches  to  laborers  who 
are  too  poor  and  too  much  in  debt  to  merchants  to  have  any  interest  in 
keeping  up  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  or  rather  the  ability  to  keep  it  up,  with 
the  natural  consequence  of  its  rapid  exhaustion,  and  a  product  per  acre  on 
these,  the  best  lands  of  the  state,  lower  than  that  which  is  realized  from 
the  very  poorest. 

"(2)  Where  the  two  races  are  in  nearly  equal  proportions,  or  where 
the  whites  are  in  only  a  slight  excess  over  the  blacks,  as  is  the  case  in 
all  sections  where  the  soils  are  of  average  fertility,  there  is  found  the 
system  of  small  farms,  worked  generally  by  the  owners,  a  consequently 
better  cultivation,  a  more  general  use  of  commercial  fertilizers,  a  corre- 

19 


spondingly  high  product  per  acre  and  a  partial  maintenance  of  the  fertility 
of  the  soils. 

"(3)  Where  the  whites  are  greatly  in  excess  of  the  blacks  (three  to 
one  and  above)  the  soils  are  almost  certain  to  be  far  below  the  average  in 
fertility,  and  the  product  per  acre  is  low  from  this  cause,  notwithstanding 
the  redeeming  influences  of  a  comparatively  rational  system  of  cul- 
tivation. 

"(4)  The  exceptions  to  these  general  rules  are  nearly  always  due  to 
local  causes  which  are  not  far  to  seek  and  which  afford  generally  a  satis- 
factory explanation  of  the  discrepancies." 

If  we  are  to  base  our  reasoning  on  the  table  cited  we  might 
argue  that  land  ownership  is  a  bad  thing  for  Negroes,  for  tenants 
of  both  classes  among  them  produced  more  than  did  the  owners. 
The  white  cash  tenants  also  produced  more  than  white  owners. 
In  explaining  this  it  is  said :  "The  fact  that  cash  tenants  pay  a 
fixed  money  rental  per  acre  causes  them  to  rent  only  such  area 
as  they  can  cultivate  thoroughly,  while  many  owners  who  are 
unable  to  rent  their  excess  acreage  to  tenants  attempt  to  cultivate 
it  themselves,  thus  decreasing  the  efficiency  of  cultivation  for 
the  entire  farm."  This  may  be  true  of  the  whites,  but  it  is  a  lame 
explanation  for  the  blacks.  Negro  farmers  who  own  more  land 
than  they  can  cultivate  appear  to  be  better  known  at  Washington 
than  they  are  locally.  The  trouble  with  the  entire  argument  is 
that  it  assumes  that  the  Negro  is  an  independent  cultivator  of 
cotton.  This  is  not  quite  the  case.  In  all  parts  of  the  South 
the  Negro,  tenant  or  owner,  usually  receives  advances  from  white 
factors,  and  these  spend  a  good  part  of  their  time  riding  about 
to  see  that  the  land  is  cultivated  in  order  to  insure  repayment  of 
their  loans.  If  their  advice  and  suggestions  are  not  followed,  or 
if  the  crop  is  not  cultivated,  the  supplies  are  shut  off.  On  many 
plantations  even  the  portion  of  the  land  to  be  put  in  cotton  is 
stipulated.  The  great  bulk  of  the  cotton  crop  is  thus  raised 
under  the  immediate  oversight  of  the  white  man.  There  is  little 
call  for  any  great  skill  on  the  part  of  the  laborer.  No  wonder 
the  crop  of  the  Negro  approximates  that  of  the  white  man.  It  is 
to  be  further  remembered  that  cotton  raising  has  been  the  chief 
occupation  of  the  Negro  in  America.  The  Census  gives  another 
illustration  of  the  unhappy  effects  of  attempting  to  cover  very 
diverse  conditions  in  one  statement  in  the  map  Vol.  VI,  plate  3. 
From  this  one  would  be  justified  in  believing  that  the  average 
farm  under  one  management  in  the  alluvial  lands  of  Mississippi 
and  Louisiana  was  small.  As  a  matter  of  fact  they  are  among 
the  largest  in  the  country.  The  map  gives  a  very  misleading 
conception  and  it  results  wholly  from  attempting  to  combine 
divergent  conditions. 

The  quotation  from  Mr.  Smith  touched  upon  another  result 
of  this  segregation.  Where  the  whites  are  the  farmers  the  farms 
are  smaller  and  better  cared  for,  more  fertilizers  are  used,  and 
better  results  are  obtained.  The  big  plantation  system  has  caused 
the  deterioration  of  naturallv  fertile  soils.  Of  course,  there  must 
come  a  day  of  reckoning  wherever  careless  husbandry  prevails. 

20 


City  conditions  are  more  or  less  uniform  in  all  sections.  The 
geographical  location  of  the  farmer,  however,  is  a  matter  of  con- 
siderable importance  not  only  as  determining  in  large  measure 
the  crop  he  must  raise,  but  as  limiting  the  advance  he  may  be 
able  to  make  under  given  conditions.  It  is  estimated  that  about 
85  per  cent  of  the  men  (Negroes)  and  44  per  cent  of  the  women 
in  productive  pursuits  are  farmers.  Their  general  location  has 
been  shown.  For  convenience  we  may  divide  the  territory  into 
five  districts:  (i)  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  above  the  limit  of 
profitable  cotton  culture.  (2)  The  Atlantic  Sea  Coast.  (3)  The 
Central  belt  running  from  Virginia  to  Central  Mississippi.  This 
includes  several  different  soils,  but  general  conditions  are  fairly 
uniform.  (4)  The  Alluvial  Lands,  which  may  be  subdivided 
into  the  cotton  and  cane  districts.  (5)  Texas.  These  different 
districts  will  be  treated  separately,  except  Texas,  which  is  not 
included. 

In  summing  up  this  chapter  it  may  be  said  that  the  location 
of  the  mass  of  the  Negro  farmers  has  been  indicated,  and  also 
the  fact  that  there  is  a  separation  between  the  whites  and  the 
blacks  which  promises  to  have  important  bearing  on  future  prog- 
ress, while  the  various  agricultural  districts  offer  opportunities 
by  no  means  uniform. 


CHAPTER  III.     ECONOMIC  HERITAGE. 

Previous  to  the  appearance  of  the  European,  West  Central 
Africa  for  untold  hundreds  of  years  had  been  almost  completely 
separated  from  the  outside  world.  The  climate  is  hot,  humid, 
enervating.  The  Negro  tribes  living  in  the  great  forests  found 
little  need  for  exertion  to  obtain  the  necessities  of  savage  life. 
The  woods  abounded  in  game,  the  rivers  in  fish.  By  cutting 
down  a  few  trees  and  loosening  the  ground  with  sharpened  sticks 
the  plantains,  a  species  of  coarse  banana,  could  be  made  to  yield 
many  hundred  fold.  The  greater  part  of  the  little  agricultural 
work  done  fell  on  the  women,  for  it  was  considered  degrading 


IN   FLOWING   TIME. 

by  the  men.  Handicrafts  were  almost  unknown  among  many 
tribes  and  where  they  existed  were  of  the  simplest.  Clothing 
was  of  little  service.  Food  preparations  were  naturally  crude. 
Sanitary  restrictions,  seemingly  so  necessary  in  hot  climates, 
were  unheard  of.  The  dead  were  often  buried  in  the  floors  of 
the  huts.  Miss  Kingsley  says:  "All  travelers  in  West  Africa 
find  it  necessary  very  soon  to  accustom  themselves  to  most 
noisome  odors  of  many  kinds  and  to  all  sorts  of  revolting  un- 
cleanliness."  Morality,  as  we  use  the  term,  did  not  exist.  Chas- 
tity was  esteemed  in  the  women  only  as  a  marketable  commodity. 
Marriage  was  easily  consummated  and  with  even  greater  ease 
dissolved.  Slavery,  inter-tribal,  was  widespread,  and  the  ravages 
of  the  slave  hunter  were  known  long  before  the  arrival  of  the 
whites.  Religion  was  a  mass  of  grossest  superstitions,  with 
belief  in  the  magical  power  of  witches  and  sorcerers  who  had 

22 


power  of  life  and  death  over  their  fellows.  Might  was  right  and 
the  chiefs  enforced  obedience.  It  is  not  necessary  to  go  more  into 
detail.  In  the  words  of  a  recent  writer: 

"It  is  clear  that  any  civilization  which  is  based  on  the  fertility  of  the 
soil,  and  not  on  the  energy  of  man,  contains  within  itself  the  seed  of  its 
own  destruction.  Where  food  is  easily  obtained,  where  there  is  little 
need  for  clothing  or  houses,  where,  in  brief,  unaided  nature  furnishes  all 
man's  necessities,  those  elements  which  produce  strength  of  character  and 
vigor  of  mind  arc  wanting,  and  man  becomes  the  slave  of  his  surroundings. 
He  acquires  no  energy  of  disposition,  he  yields  himself  to  superstition 
and  fatalism;  the  very  conditions  of  life  which  produced  his  civilization 
set  the  limit  of  its  existence." 

It  is  evident  from  the  foregoing  that  there  had  been  almost 
nothing  in  the  conditions  of  Africa  to  further  habits  of  thrift 
and  industry.  The  warm  climate  made  great  provision  for  the 
future  unnecessary,  not  to  say  impossible,  while  social  conditions 
did  not  favor  accumulation  of  property.  It  is  necessary  to 
emphasize  these  African  conditions,  for  they  have  an  important 
influence  on  future  development.  Under  these  conditions  Negro 
character  was  formed,  and  that  character  was  not  like  that  of  the 
long-headed  blonds  of  the  North. 

The  transfer  to  America  marked  a  sharp  break  with  the  past. 
One  needs  but  to  stop  to  enumerate  the  changes  to  realize  how 
great  this  break  was.  A  simple  dialect  is  exchanged  for  a  com- 
plex language.  A  religion  whose  basic  principle  is  love  grad- 
ually supplants  the  fears  and  superstitions  of  heathenhood.  The 
black  passes  from  an  enervating,  humid  climate  to  ojie  in  which 
activity  is  pleasurable.  From  the  isolation  and  self-satisfaction 
of  savagery  he  emerges  into  close  contact  with  one  of  the  most 
ambitious  and  progressive  of  peoples.  Life  at  once  becomes  far 
more  secure  and  wrongs  are  revenged  by  the  self-interest  of  the 
whites  as  well  as  by  the  feeble  means  of  self-defense  in  possession 
of  the  blacks.  That  there  were  cruelties  and  mistreatment  under 
slavery  goes  without  saying,  but  the  woes  and  sufferings  under 
it  were  as  nothing  compared  to  those  of  the  life  in  the  African 
forests.  This  fact  is  sometimes  overlooked.  With  greater  secur- 
ity of  life  came  an  emphasis,  from  without,  to  be  sure,  on  better 
marital  relations.  Tn  this  respect  slavery  left  much  to  be  desired, 
but  conditions  on  the  whole  were  probablv  in  advance  of  those 
in  Africa.  Marriage  be,eran  to  be  something  more  than  a  pur- 
chase. Sanitation,  not  the  word,  but  the  underlying  idea,  was 
taught  by  precept  and  example.  There  came  also  a  dim  notion 
of  a  new  sphere  for  women.  Faint  perceptions  ofttimes,  but  ideas 
never  dreamed  of  in  Africa.  I  would  not  defend  slavery,  but 
in  this  country  its  evil  results  are  the  inheritance  of  the  whites, 
not  of  the  blacks,  and  the  burden  today  of  American  slavery  is 
upon  white  shoulders. 

Many  of  the  changes  have  been  mentioned,  but  the  greatest 
is  reserved  for  the  last.  This  is  embraced  in  one  word — WORK. 
For  the  first  time  the  Negro  was  made  to  work,  not  casual  work, 


but  steady,  constant  labor.  From  the  Negro's  standpoint  this  is 
the  redeeming  feature  of  his  slavery  as  perhaps  it  was  for  the 
Israelites  in  Egypt  of  old.  Booker  Washington  has  written  :* 
"American  slavery  was  a  great  curse  to  both  races,  and  I  would 
be  the  last  to  apologize  for  it,  but,  in  the  providence  of  God,  I 
believe  that  slavery  laid  the  foundation  for  the  solution  of  the 
problem  that  is  now  before  us  in  the  South.  During  slavery  the 
Negro  was  taught  every  trade,  every  industry,  that  constitutes 
the  foundation  for  making  a  living." 

Dr.  H.  B.  Frissell  has  borne  the  same  testimony: 
"The  southern  plantation  was  really  a  great  trade  school  where  thou- 
sands received  instruction  in  mechanic  arts,  in  agriculture,  in  cooking, 
sewing  and  other  domestic  occupations.  Although  it  may  be  said  that  all 
this  instruction  was  given  from  selfish  motives,  yet  the  fact  remains  that 
the  slaves  on  many  plantations  had  good  industrial  training,  and  all  honor 
is  due  to  the  conscientious  men  and  still  more  to  the  noble  women  of  the 
South  who  in  slavery  times  helped  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  better  days 
that  were  to  come." 

Work  is  the  essential  condition  of  human  progress.  Contrast 
the  training  of  the  Negro  under  enforced  slavery  with  that  of 
the  Indian,  although  it  should  not  be  thought  that  the  characters 
were  the  same,  for  the  life  in  America  had  made  the  Indian  one 
wrlo  would  not  submit  to  the  yoke,  and  all  attempts  to  enslave 
him  came  to  naught.  DT.  Frissell  out  of  a  long  experience  says : 

"When  the  children  of  these  two  races  are  placed  side  by  side,  as  they 
are  in  the  school  rooms  and  workshops  and  on  the  farms  at  Hampton,  it 
is  not  difficult  to  perceive  that  the  training  which  the  blacks  had  under 
slavery  was  far  more  valuable  as  a  preparation  for  civilized  life  than  the 
freedom  from  training  and  service  enjoyed  by  the  Indian  on  the  Western 
reservations.  For  while  slavery  taught  the  colored  man  to  work,  the 
reservation  pauperized  the  Indian  with  free  rations ;  while  slavery  brought 
the  black  into  the  closest  relations  with  the  white  race  and  its  ways  of 
life,  the  reservation  shut  the  Indian  away  from  his  white  brothers  and 
gave  him  little  knowledge  of  their  civilization,  language  or  religion." 

The  coddled  Indian,  with  all  the  vices  of  the  white  man  open 
to  him,  has  made  little,  if  any,  progress,  while  the  Negro,  made 
to. work,  has  held  his  own  in  large  measure  at  least. 

Under  slavery  three  general  fields  of  service  were  open  to 
the  blacks.  The  first  comprised  the  domestic  and  body  servants, 
with  the  seamstresses,  etc.,  whose  labors  were  in  the  house  or  in 
close  personal  contact  with  masters  and  mistresses.  This  class 
was  made  up  of  the  brightest  and  quickest,  mulattoes  being  pre- 
ferred because  of  their  greater  aptitude.  These  servants  had 
almost  as  much  to  do  with  the  whites  as  did  the  other  blacks  and 
absorbed  no  small  amount  of  learning.  Yet  the  results  were 
not  always  satisfactory.  A  southern  lady  after  visiting  for  a  time 
in  New  York  said  on  leaving  :f 

"I  cannot  tell  you  how  much,  after  being  in  your  house  so  long,  I 
dread  to  go  home,  and  hav£  to  take  care  of  our  servants  again.  We  have 
a  much  smaller  family  of  whites  than  you,  but  we  have  twelve  servants, 

*The  Future  of  the  American  Negro. 
tOlrnsted,  F.  L.— The  Cotton  Kingdom. 


and  your  two  accomplish  a  great  deal  more  and  do  their  work  a  great  deal 
better  than  our  twelve.  You  think  your  girls  are  very  stupid  and  that 
they  give  much  trouble,  but  it  is  as  nothing.  There  is  hardly  one  of  our 
servants  that  can  be  trusted  to  do  the  simplest  work  without  being  stood 
over.  If  I  order  a  room  to  be  cleaned,  or  a  fire  to  be  made  in  a  distant 
chamber,  I  can  never  be  sure  I  am  obeyed  unless  I  go  there  and  see  for 
myself.  .  .  .  And  when  I  reprimand  them  they  only  say  that  they 
don't  mean  to  do  anything  wrong,  or  they  won't  do  it  again,  all  the  time 
laughing  as  though  it  were  a  joke.  They  don't  mind  it  at  all.  They  are 
just  as  playful  and  careless  as  any  wilful  child;  and  they  never  will  do 
any  work  if  you  don't  compel  them." 

The  second  class  comprised  the  mechanics,  carpenters,  black- 
smiths, masons  and  the  like.  These  were  also  a  picked  lot.  They 
were  well  trained  ofttimes  and  had  a  practical  monopoly  of  their 
trades  in  many  localities.  In  technical  knowledge  they  naturally 
soon  outstripped  their  masters  and  became  conscious  of  their 
superiority,  as  the  following  instance  related  by  President  G.  T. 
Winston  shows: 

"I  remember  one  day  my  father,  who  was  a  lawyer,  offered  some  sug- 
gestions to  one  of  his  slaves,  a  fairly  good  carpenter,  who  was  building  us 
a  barn.  The  old  'Negro  heard  him  with  ill-concealed  disgust,  and  replied: 
'Look  here,  master,  you'se  a  first-rate  lawyer,  no  doubt,  but  you  don't 
know  nothin'  'tall  'bout  carpentering.  You  better  go  back  to  your  law 
books.'  " 

The  training  received  by  these  artisans  stood  them  in  good 
stead  after  the  war,  when,  left  to  themselves,  they  were  able  to 
hold  their  ground  by  virtue  of  their  ability  to  work  alone. 

The  third  class  was  made  up  of  all  that  were  left,  and  their 
work  was  in  the  fields.  The  dullest,  as  well  as  those  not  needed 
elsewhere,  were  included.  Some  few  became  overseers,  but  the 
majority  worked  on  the  farms.  As  a  rule  little  work  was  re- 
quired of  children  under  12,  and  when  they  began  their  tasks 
were  about  of  the  adult's.  Thence  they  passed  to  "half,"  "three- 
quarter"  and  "full"  hands.  Olmsted  said  :* 

"Until  the  Negro  is  big  enough  for  his  labor  to  be  plainly  profitable 
to  his  master  he  has  no  training  to  application  or  method,  but  only  to 
idleness  and  carelessness.  Before  children  arrive  at  a  working  age  they 
hardly  come  under  the  notice  of  their  owner.  .  .  .  The  only  whipping 
of  slaves  I  have  seen  in  Virginia  has  been  of  these  wild,  lazy  children,  as 
they  are  being  broke  in  to  work.  They  cannot  be  depended  upon  a  minute 
out  of  sight.  You  will  see  how  difficult  it  would  be  if  it  were  attempted 
to  eradicate  the  indolent,  careless,  incogitant  habits  so  formed  in  youth. 
But  it  is  not  systematically  attempted,  and  the  influences  that  continue  to 
act  upon  a  slave  in  the  same  direction,  cultivating  every  quality  at  variance 
with  industry,  precision,  forethought  and  providence,  are  innumerable." 

In  many  places  the  field  hands  were  given  set  tasks  to  do 
each  day,  and  they  were  then  allowed  to  take  their  own  time 
and  stop  when  the  task  was  completed.  In  Georgia  and  South 
Carolina  the  following  is  cited  by  Olmsted  as  tasks  for  a  day:* 

"In  making  drains  in  light  clean  meadow  land  each  man  or  woman  of 
the  full  hands  is  required  to  dig  one  thousand  cubic  feet;  in  swamp  land 

*Olmsted,  F.  T.     The  Cotton  Kingdom. 

25 


that  is  being  prepared  for  rice  culture,  where  there  are  not  many  stumps, 
the  task  for  a  ditcher  is  five  hundred  feet ;  while  in  a  very  strong  cypress 
swamp,  only  two  hundred  feet  is  required;  in  hoeing  rice,  a  certain  num- 
ber of  rows  equal  to  one-half  or  two-thirds  of  an  acre,  according  to  the 
condition  of  the  land;  in  sowing  rice  (strewing  in  drills),  two  acres;  in 
reaping  rice  (if  it  stands  well),  three-quarters  of  an  acre,  or,  sometimes 
a  gang  will  be  required  to  reap,  tie  in  sheaves,  and  carry  to  the  stack 
yard  the  produce  of  a  certain  area  commonly  equal  to  one-fourth  the 
number  of  acres  that  there  are  hands  working  together ;  hoeing  cotton, 
corn  or  potatoes,  one-half  to  one  acre;  threshing,  five  to  six  hundred 
sheaves.  In  plowing  rice  land  (light,  clean,  mellow  soil),  with  a  yoke 
of  oxen,  one  acre  a  day,  including  the  ground  lost  in  and  near  the  drains, 
the  oxen  being  changed  at  noon.  A  cooper  also,  for  instance,  is  required 
to  make  barrels  at  the  rate  of  eighteen  a  week;  drawing  staves,  500  a 
day;  hoop-poles,  120;  squaring  timber,  100  feet;  laying  worm  fence,  50 
panels  per  day;  post  and  rail  fence,  posts  set  two  and  a  half  to  three  feet 
deep,  nine  feet  apart,  nine  or  ten  panels  per  hand.  In  getting  fuel  from 
the  woods  (pine  to  be  cut  and  split),  one  cord  is  the  task  for  a  day.  In 
'mauling  rails/  the  taskman  selecting  the  trees  (pine)  that  he  judges  will 
split  easiest,  100  a  day,  ends  not  sharpened. 

"In  allotting  the  tasks  the  drivers  are  expected  to  put  the  weaker 
hands  where,  if  there  is  any  choice  in  the  appearance  of  the  ground,  as 
where  certain  rows  in  hoeing  corn  would  be  less  weedy  than  others,  they 
will  be  favored. 

"These  tasks  would  certainly  not  be  considered  excessively  hard  by 
a  northern  laborer,  and,  in  point  of  fact,  the  more  industrious  and  active 
hands  finish  them  often  by  two  o'clock.  I  saw  one  or  two  leaving  the 
field  soon  after  one  o'clock,  several  about  two,  and  between  three  and  four 
T  met  a  dozen  women  and  several  men  coming  to  their  cabins,  having 
finished  their  day's  work..  .  .  If,  after  a  hard  day's  labor  he  (the 
driver)  sees  that  the  gang  has  been  overtasked,  owing  to  a  miscalculation 
of  the  difficulty  of  the  work,  he  may  excuse  the  completion  of  the  tasks, 
but  he  is  not  allowed  to  extend  them." 

In  other  places  the  work  was  not  laid  out  in  tasks,  but  it  is 
safe  to  say  that,  judging  from  all  reports  and  all  probabilities,  the 
amount  of  work  done  did  not  equal  that  of  the  free  labor  of  the 
North,  then  or  now:  If  it  had  the  commercial  supremacy  of  the 
South  would  have  been  longer  maintained. 

Some  things  regarding  the  agricultural  work  at  once  become 
prominent.  All  work  was  done  under  the  immediate  eye  of  the 
task  master.  Thus  there  was  little  occasion  for  the  development 
of  any  sense  of  individual  responsibility  for  the  work.  As  a  rule 
the  methods  adopted  were  crude.  Little  machinery  was  used,  and 
that  of  the  simplest.  Hoes,  heavy  and  clumsy,  were  the  common 
tools.  Within  a  year  I  have  seen  grass  being  mowed  with  hoes 
preparatory  to  putting  the  ground  in  cultivation.  Even  today 
the  Negro  has  to  be  trained  to  use  the  light,  sharp  hoe  of  the 
North.  Corn,  cotton  and,  in  a  few  districts,  rice  or  tobacco  were 
the  staple  crops,  although  each  plantation  raised  its  own  fruit 
and-  vegetables,  and  about  the  cabins  in  the  quarters  were  little 
plots  for  gardens.  The  land  was  cultivated  for  a  time,  then 
abandoned  for  new,  while  in  most  places  little  attention  was  paid 
to  rotation  of  crops  or  to  fertilizers.  The  result  was  that  large 
sections  of  the. South  had  been  seriously  injured  before  the  war. 
As  some  one  has  said:  » 

26 


'The  destruction  of  the  soils  by  the  methods  of  cultivation  prior  to  the 
wan  was  worse  than  the  ravages  of  the  war.  The  post  bellum  farmer 
received  as  an  inheritance  large  areas  of  wornout  and  generally  unpro- 
ductive soils." 

Yet  all  things  were  the  master's.  A  failure  of  the  crop  meant 
little  hunger  to  the  black.  Refusal  to  work  could  but  bring  bodily 
punishment,  for  the  master  was  seldom  of  the  kind  who  would 
take  life — a  live  Negro  was  worth  a  good  deal  more  than  a  dead 
one.  Clothing  and  shelter  were  provided,  and  care  in  sickness. 
The  master  must  always  furnish  tools,  land  and  seed,  and  see  to 
it  that  the  ground  was  cultivated.  There  was  thus  little  necessity 
for  the  Negro  to  care  for  the  morrow,  and  his  African  training 
had  not  taught  him  to  borrow  trouble.  Thus  neither  Africa 
nor  America  had  trained  the  Negro  to  independent,  continuous 
labor  apart  from  the  eye  of  the  overseer.  The  requirements  as 
to  skill  were  low.  The  average  man  learned  little  of  the  mys- 
teries of  fruit  growing,  truck  farming  and  all  the  economies 
which  make  diversified  agriculture  profitable. 

Freedom  came,  a  second  sharp  break  with  the  past.  There  is 
now  no  one  who  is  responsible  for  food  and  clothing.  For  a  time 
all  is  in  confusion.  The  war  had  wiped  out  the  capital  of  the 
country.  The  whites  were  land  poor,  the  Negroes  landless.  It 
so  happened  that  at  this  time  the  price  of  cotton  was  high.  The 
Negro  knew  more  about  cotton  than  any  other  crop.  Raise 
cotton  became  the  order  of  the  day.  The  money  lenders  would 
lend  money  on  cotton,  even  in  advance,  for  it  had  a  certain  and 
sure  ready  sale.  Thus  developed  the  crop-lien  system  which  in 
essence  consists  in  taking  a  mortgage  on  crops  yet  to  be  raised. 
The  system  existed  among  the  white  planters  for  many  years 
before  the  war. 

A  certain  amount  of  food  and  clothing  was  advanced  to 
the  Negro  family  until  the  crop  could  be  harvested,  when 
the  money  value  of  the  goods  received  was  returned  with 
interest.  Perhaps  nothing  which  concerns  the  Negro  has  been 
the  subject  of  more  hostile  criticism  than  this  crop-lien  system. 
That  it  is  easily  abused  when  the  man  on  one  side  is  a  shrewd 
and  cunning  sharpster  and  the  borrower  an  illiterate  and  trusting 
Negro  is  beyond  doubt.  That  in  thousands  of  cases  advantage 
has  been  taken  of  this  fact  to  wrest  from  the  Negro  at  the  end 
of  the  year  all  that  he  had  is  not  to  be  questioned.  Certainly  a 
system  which  makes  it  possible  is  open  to  criticism.  It  should 
not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  the  system  grew  out  of  the  needs 
of  the  time  and  served  a  useful  purpose  when  honestly  admin- 
istered, even  as  it  does  today.  No  money  could  be  gotten  with 
land  as  security,  and  even  today  the  land  owner  often  sees  his 
merchant  with  far  less  capital  get  money  from  the  bank  which 
has  refused  his  security.  The  system  has  enabled  a  poor  man 
without  tools  and  work  animals  without  food. to  get  a  start  and 
be  provided  with  a  modicum  of  necessities  until  the  crops  were 

27 


harvested.  Thousands  have  become  more  or  less  independent 
.  who  started  in  this  way.  The  evil  influences  of  the  system,  for 
none  would  consider  it  ideal,  have  probably  been  that  it  has  made 
unnecessary  any  saving  on  the  part  of  the  Negro,  who  feels  sure 
that  he  can  receive  his  advances  and  who  cares  little  for  the 
fact  that  some  day  he  must  pay  a  big  interest  on  what  he  receives. 
Secondly,  this  system  has  hindered  the  development  of  diversified 
farming,  which  today  is  one  of  the  greatest  needs  of  the  South. 
The  advances  have  been  conditioned  upon  the  planting  and  culti- 
vating a  given  amount  of  cotton.  During  recent  years  no  other 
staple  has  so  fallen  in  price,  and  the  result  has  been  hard  on  the 
farmers.  All  else  has  faded  into  insignificance  before  the  neces- 
sity of  raising  cotton.  The  result  on  the  fertility  of  the  soil  is 
also  evident.  Luckily  cotton  makes  light  demands  on  the  land,  but 
the  thin  soil  of  many  districts  has  been  unable  to  stand  even 
the  light  demands.  Guano  came  just  in  time  and  the  later 
commercial  fertilizers  have  postponed  the  evil  day.  The  develop- 
ment of  the  cotton  mills  has  also  served  to  give  a  local  market, 
which  has  stimulated,  the  production  of  cotton.  It  seems  rather 
evident,  however,  that  the  increasing  development  of  western 
lands  will  put  a  heavier  burden  upon  the  Atlantic  slope.  This,  of 
course,  will  not  affect  the  culture  of  sea-island  cotton,  which  is 
grown  in  only  a  limited  area.  To  meet  this  handicap  a  more 
diversified  agriculture  must  gradually  supplant  in  some  way  the 
present  over-attention  to  cotton.  In  early  days  Virginia  raised 
much  cotton,  now  it  stands  towards  the  bottom  of  the  cotton 
states.  Perhaps  it  is  safe  to  say  that  Virginia  land  has  been  as 
much  injured  by  the  more  exhaustive  crop,  tobacco,  as  the  other 
states  by  cotton.  Large  areas  have  been  allowed  to  go  back  to 
the  woods  and  local  conditions  have  greatly  changed.  How  this 
diversification  is  to  be  brought  about  for  the  Negro  is  one  of 
the  most  important  questions.  Recent  years  have  witnessed  an 
enormous  development  of  truck  farming,  but  in  this  the  Negro 
has  borne  little  part.  This  intensive  farming  requires  a  knowl- 
edge of  soil  and  of  plant  life,  coupled  with  much  ability  in 
marketing  wares,  which  the  average  Negro  does  not  possess. 
Nor  has  he  taken  any  great  part  in  the  fruit  industry,  which  is 
steadily  growing.  The  question  to  which  all  this  leads  may  be 
stated  as  follows.  To  what  extent  is  the  Negro  taking-  advantage 
of  the  ooportunities  he  now  has  on  the  farm?  What  is  his 
present  situation? 


28 


CHAPTER  IV.     THE  PRESENT  SITUATION. 

The  southern  states  are  not  densely  populated.  Alabama  has 
an  average  of  35  per  square  mile;  Georgia,  37;  South  Carolina, 
44.  These  may  be  compared  with  Iowa,  40;  Indiana,  70,  taking 
two  of  the  typical  northern  farming,  states,  while  Connecticut 
has  187.  In  the  prairie  section  of  Alabama  the  Negro  population 
ranges  from  30  to  50  per  square  mile,  and  this  is  about  the 
densest  outside  of  the  city  counties.  There  is  thus  an  abundance 


A   CABIN  INTERIOR. 

of  land.  As  a  matter  of  fact  there  is  not  the  least  difficulty  for 
the  Negro  farmer  to  get  plenty  of  land,  and  he  has  but  to  show 
himself  a  good  tenant  to  have  the  whites  offering  him  induce- 
ments. 

Negroes  on  the  farms  may  be  divided  into  four  classes :  Own- 
ers, cash  tenants,  share  tenants,  laborers.  Share  tenants  differ 
from  the  same  class  in  the  North  in  that  work  animals  and  tools 

29 


are  usually  provided  by  the  landlord.  Among  the  laborers  must 
also  be  included  the  families  living  on  the  rice  and  cane  planta- 
tions, who  work  for  cash  wages  but  receive  houses  and  such 
perquisites  as  do  other  tenants  and  whose  permanence  is  more 
assured  than  an  ordinary  day  hand.  They  are  paid  in  cash,  usu- 
ally through  a  plantation  store,  that  debts  for  provisions,  etc., 
may  be  deducted.  Both  owners  and  tenants  find  it  generally 
necessary  to  arrange  for  advances  of  food  and  clothing  until 
harvest.  The  advances  begin  in  the  early  Spring  and  continue 
until  August  or  sometimes  until  vthe  cotton  is  picked.  In  the 
regions  east  of  the  alluvial  lands  advances  usually  stop  by  the 
first  of  August,  and  in  the  interim  until  the  cotton  is  sold  odd 
jobs  or  some  extra  labor,  picking  blackberries  and  the  like,  must 
furnish  the  support  for  the  family.  The  landlord  may  do  the 
advancing  or  some  merchant.  Money  is  seldom  furnished 
'directly,  although  in  recent  years  banks  are  beginning  to  loan 
on  crop-liens.  The  food  supplied  is  often  based  on  the  number 
of  working  hands,  irrespective  of  the  number  of  children  in  the 
family.  This  is  occasionally  a  hardship.  The  customary  ration 
is  a  peck  of  corn  meal  and  three  pounds  of  pork  per  week.  Usu- 
ally a  crop-lien  together  with  a  bill  of  sale  of  any  personal  prop- 
erty is  given  as  security,  but  in  some  states  landlords  have  a 
first  lien  upon  all  crops  for*  rent  and  advances.  In  all  districts 
the  tenant  is  allowed  to  cut  wood  for  his  fire,  and  frequently  has 
free  pasture  for  his  stock.  There  is  much  complaint  that  when 
there  are  fences  about  the  house  they  are  sometimes  burned, 
being  more  accessible  than  the  timber,  which  may  be  at  a  dis- 
tance and  which  has  to  be  cut.  The  landlords  and  the  advancers 
have  found  it  necessary  to  spend  a  large  part  of  their  time  per- 
sonally,- or  through  agents  called  "riders,"  going  about  the 
plantations  to  see  that  the  crops  are  cultivated.  The  Negro 
knows  how  to  raise  cotton,  but  he  may  forget  to  plow,  chop,  OT 
some  other  such  trifle,  unless  reminded  of  the  necessity.  Thus  a 
considerable  part  of  the  excessive  interest  charged  the  Negro 
should  really  be  charged  as  wages  of  superintendence.  If  the 
instructions  of  the  riders  are  not  followed,  rations  are  cut  off,  and 
thus  the  recalcitrant  brought  to  terms. 

For  a  long  time  rations  have  been  dealt  out  on  Saturday.  So 
Saturday  has  come  to  be  considered  a  holiday,  or  half-holiday 
at  least.  Early  in  the  morning  the  roads  are  covered  with  blacks 
on  foot,  horse  back,  mule  back  and  in  various  vehicles,  on  their 
way  to  the  store  or  village,  there  to  spend  the  day  loafing  about 
in  friendly  discussion  with  neighbors.  The  condition  of  the 
crops  has  little  preventive  influence,  and  the  handicap  to  success- 
ful husbandry  formed  by  the  habit  is  easily  perceived.  Manv 
efforts  are  being  made  to  break  up  the  custom,  but  it  is  up-hill 
work.  Another  habit  of  the  Negro  which  militates  against  his  prog- 
ress is  his  prowling  about  in  all  sorts  of  revels  by  night,  thereby 
unfitting  himself  for  labor  the  next  day.  This  trait  also  shows 


forth  the  general  thoughtlessness  of  the  Negro.-  His  fnule  works 
by  day,  but  is  expected  to  carry  his  owner  any  number  of  miles 
at  night.  Sunday  is  seldom  a. day  ot  rest  for  the  work  animals. 
It  is  a  curious  fact  that  wherever  the  Negroes  are  most  numerous 
there  mules  usually  outnumber  horses.  There  are  sevaral  reasons 
for  .this.  It  has  often  been  supposed  that  mules  endure  the 
heat  better  than  horses.  This  is  questionable.  The  mule,  how- 
ever, will  do  a  certain  amount  and  then  quit,  all  inducements  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding.  The  horse  will  go  till  he  drops ; 
moreover,  will  not  stand  the  abuse  which  the  mule  endures.  The 
Negro  does  not  bear  a  good  reputation  for  care  of  his  animals. 
He  neglects  to  feed  and  provide  for  them.  Their  looks  justify 
the  criticism.  The  mule,  valuable  as  he  is  for  many  purposes,  is 
necessarily  more  expensive  in  the  long  run  than  a  self-perpetuat- 
ing animal. 

In  all  parts  it  is  the  custom  for  the  Negroes  to  save  a  little 
garden  "patch  about  the  house,  which,  if  properly  tended,  would 
supply  the  family  with  vegetables  throughout  the  year.  This  is 
seldom  the  case.  A  recent  Tuskegee  catalog  commenting  on  this 
says: 

"If  they  have  any  garden  at  all,  it  is  apt  to  be  choked  with  weeds 
and  other  noxious  growths.  With  every  advantage  of  soil  and  climate, 
and  with  a  steady  market  if  they  live  near  any  city  or  large  town,  few  of 
the  colored  farmers  get  any  benefit  from  this,  one  of  the  most  profitable 
of  all  industries." 

As  a  matter  of  fact  they  care  little  for  vegetables  and  seldom 
know  how  to  prepare  them  for  the  table.  The  garden  is  regularly 
started  in  the  Spring,  but  seldom  amounts  to  much.  I  have 
ridden  for  a  day  with  but  a  glimpse  of  a  couple  of  attempts.  As 
a  result  there  will  be  a  few  .collards,  turnips,  gourds,  sweet  pota- 
toes and  beans,  but  the  mass  of  the  people  buy  the  little  they 
need  from  the  stores.  A  dealer  in  a  little  country  store  told  me 
last  summer  that  he  would  make  about  $75  an  acre  on  three 
acres  of  watermelons,  although  almost  every  purchaser  could 
raise  them  if  he  would.  In  many  regions  wild  fruits  are  abundant, 
and  blackberries  during  the  season  are  quite  a  staple,  but  they 
are  seldom  canned.  Some  cattle  are  kept,  but  little  butter  is 
made,  and  milk  is  seldom  on  the  bill  of  fare,  the  stock  being  sold 
when  fat  ( ?).  Many  families  keep  chickens,  usually  of  the  variety 
known  as  "dunghill  fowls,"  which  forage  for  themselves.  But 
the  market  supplied  with  chickens  by  the  small  farmers,  as  it 
might .  easily  be.  Whenever  opportunity  offers,  hunting  and 
fishing  become  more  than  diversions,  and  the  fondness  for  coon 
and  'possum  is  proverbial. 

In  a  study  of  dietaries  of  Negroes  made  under  Tuskegee 
Institute  and  reported  in  Bulletin  No.  38,  Office  of  Experimental 
Stations,  U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture,  it  is  stated : 

"Comparing  these  negro  dietaries  with  other  dietaries  and  dietary 
standards,  it  will  be  seen  that — 


"(i)  The  quantities  of  protein  are  small.  Roughly  speaking,  the 
food  of  these  negroes  furnished  one-third  to  three-fourths  as  much  protein 
as  are  called  for  in  the  current  physiological  standards  and  as  are  actually  t 
found  in  the  dietaries  of  well  fed  whites  in  the  United  States  and  well 
fed  people  in  Europe.  They  were,  indeed,  no  larger  than  have  been  found 
in  the  dietaries  of  the  very  poor  factory  operatives  and  laborers  in  Germany 
and  the  laborers  and  beggars  in  Italy. 

"(2)  In  fuel  value  the  Negro  dietaries  compare  quite  favorably  with 
those  of  well-to-do  people  of  the  laboring  classes  in  Europe  and  the 
United  States." 

This  indicates  the  ignorance  of  the  Negro  regarding  the  food 
he  needs,  so  that  in  a  region  of  plenty  he  is  underfed  as  regards 
the  muscle  and  bone  forming  elements  and  overfed  so  far  as  fuel 
value  is  concerned.  One  cannot  help  asking  what  effect  a  normal 
diet  would  have  upon  the  sexual  passions.  It  is  worthy  of 
notice  that  in  the  schools  maintained  by  the  whites  there  is  rela- 
tively little  trouble  on  this  account.  Possibly  the  changed  life 
and  food  are  in  no  small  measure  responsible  for  the  difference. 

Under  diversified  farming  there  would  be  steady  employment 
most  of  the  year,  with  a  corresponding  increase  of  production. 
As  it  is  there  are  two  busy  seasons.  In  the  Spring,  planting  and 
cultivating  cotton,  say  from  March  to  July,  and  in  the  Fall, 
cotton  picking,  September  to  December.  The  balance  of  the 
•  time  the  average  farmer  does  little  work.  The  present  system 
entails  a  great  loss  of  time. 

The  absence  of  good  pastures  and  of  meadows  is  noticeable. 
This  is  also  too  true  of  white  farmers.  Yet  the  grasses  grow 
luxuriantly  and  nothing  but  custom  or  something  else  accounts 
for  their  absence;  the  something  else  is  cotton.  The  adaptability 
of  cotton  to  the  Negro  is  almost  providential.  It  has  a  long  tap 
root  and  is  able  to  stand  neglect  and  yet  produce  a  reasonable 
crop.  The  grains,  corn  and  cane,  with  their  surface  roots,  will 
not  thrive  under  careless  handling. 

The  average  farmer  knows,  or  at  least  utilizes,  few  of  the 
little  economies  which  make  agriculture  so  profitable  elsewhere. 
The  Negro  is  thus  under  a  heavy  handicap  and  does  not  get  the 
most  that  he  might  from  present  opportunities.  I  am  fully  con- 
scious that  there  are  many  farmers  who  take  advantage  of  these 
things  and  are  correspondingly  successful,  but  they  are  not  the 
average  man  of  whom  I  am  speaking.  With  this  general  state- 
ment I  pass  to  a  consideration  of  the  situation  in  the  various 
districts  before  mentioned. 

TIDE  WATER  VIRGINIA. 

The  Virginia  sea  shore  consists  of  a  number  of  peninsulas 
separated  by  narrow  rivers  (salt  water).  The  country  along 
the  shore  and  the  rivers  is  flat,  with  low  hills  in  the  interior. 
North  of  Old  Point  Comfort  the  district  is  scarcely  touched  by 
railroads  and  is  accessible  only  by  steamers. 

Gloucester  County,  lying  between  York  River  and  Mob  Jack 


Bay,  is  an  interesting  region.  The  hilly  soil  of  the  central  part 
sells  at  from  $5  to  $10  per  acre,  while  the  flat  coast  land,  which 
is  richer  although  harder  to  drain,  is  worth  from  $25  to  $50. 
The  immediate  water  front  has  risen  in  price  in  recent  years 
and  brings  fancy  prices  for  residence  purposes.  Curiously  enough 
some  of  the  best  land  of  the  county  is  that  beneath  the  waters 
of  the  rivers — the  oyster  beds.  Land  for  this  use  may  be  worth, 
from  nothing  to  many  hundreds  of  dollars  an  acre,  according  to 
its  nature.  The  county  contains  250  square  miles,  6,224  whites 
and  6,608  blacks,  the  latter  forming  51  per  cent  of  the  popula- 
tion. 

This  sea  coast  region  offers  peculiar  facilities  for  gaining 
an  easy  livelihood.  There  are  few  negro  families  of  which  some 
member  does  not  spend  •  part  of  the  year  fishing  or  oystering. 
There  has  been  a  great  development  of  the  oyster  industry.  The 
season  lasts  from  September  I  to  May  I,  and  good  workmen 
not  infrequently  make  $2  a  day  or  more  when  they  can  work  on 
the  public  beds.  This  last  clause  is  significant.  It  is  stated  that 
the  men  expect  to  work  most  of  September,  October  and  Novem- 
ber; one-half  of  December  and  January;  one-third  of  February; 
any  time  in  March  is  clear  gain  and  all  of  April.  According  to 
a  careful  study*  of  the  oyster  industry  it  was  found  that  the 
oystermen,  i  e.,  those  who  dig  the  oysters  from  the  rocks,  make 
about  $8  a  month,  while  families  occupied  in  shucking  oysters 
earn  up  to  $400  a  year,  three-fourths  of  them  gaining  less  than 
$250.  The  public  beds  yield  less  than  formerly  and  the  business 
is  gradually  going  into  the  hands  of  firms  maintaining  their  own 
beds,  with  a  corresponding  reduction  in  possible  earnings  for 
the  oystermen. 

The  effect  of  this  industry  is  twofold;  a  considerable  sum  of 
money  is  brought  into  the  county  and  much  of  this  has  been 
invested  in  homes  and  small  farms.  This  is  the  bright  side ;  but 
there  is  a  dark  side.  The  boys  are  drawn  out  of  the  schools  by 
the  age  of  12  to  work  at  shucking  oysters,  and  during  the  winter 
months  near  the  rivers  the  boys  will  attend  only  on  stormy  days. 
The  men  are  also  taken  away  from  the  farms  too  early  in  the 
fall  to  gather  crops,  and  return  too  late  in  the  spring  to  get  the 
best  results  from  the  farm  work.  The  irregular  character  of  the 
employment  reacts  on  the  men  and  they  tend  to  drift  to  the  cities 
during  the  summer,  although  many  find  employment  in  berry 
picking  about  Norfolk.  Another  result  has  been  to  make  farm 
labor  very  scarce.  This  naturally  causes  some  complaint.  I  do 
not  say  that  the  bad  results  outweigh  the  good,  but  believe  they 
must  be  considered. 

The  population  is  scattered  over  the  countv,  there  being  no 
towns  of  any  size,  and  is  denser  along  the  rivers  than  inland. 
The  relations  between  the  two  races  are  most  friendly,  although 


*Negroes  of  Litwalton,  Va.— Bulletin  Department  of  Labor,  No.  37- 

33 


less  satisfactory  between  the  younger  generation.  The  Negroes 
make  no  complaints  of  ill  treatment.  In  the  last  ten  years  there 
have  been  only  four  Negroes  sentenced  to  the  state  prison,  while 
in  the  twelve  months  prior  to  May  i,  1903,  I  was  told  that  there 
was  but  one  trial  for  misdemeanor.  It  may  be  that  the  absence 
of  many  of  the  young  men  for  several  months  a  year  accounts 
in  part  for  the  small  amount  of  crime.  The  jail  stands  empty 
most  of  the  time.  The  chief  offenses  are  against  the  fish  and 
oyster  laws  of  the  state.  Whites  and  blacks  both  claim  that 
illegitimate  children  are  much  rarer  than  formerly.  I  was  told 
of  a  case  in  which  a  young  white  man  was  fined  for  attempting 
to  seduce  a  colored  girl.  The  races  have  kept  in  touch.  White 
ministers  still  preach  in  negro  churches,  address  Sunday-schools, 
etc. 

In  all  save  a  few  of  the  poorer  districts  the  old  one-roomed 
cabin  has  given  place  to  a  comfortable  house  of  several  rooms. 
The  houses  are  often  white-washed,  although  their  completion 
may  take  a  good  many  years.  Stoves  have  supplanted  fire- 
places. The  fences  about  the  yards  are  often  neat  and  in  good 
repair.  So  far  as  housing  conditions  are  concerned,  I  have  seen 
no  rural  district  of  the  South  to  compare  with  this.  The  old 
cabin  is  decidedly  out  of  fashion. 

Turning  to  the  farm  proper,  there  are  other  evidences  of 
change.  There  are  no  women  working  in  the  fields,  their  time 
being  spent  about  the  house  and  the  garden.  The  system  of  crop 
liens  is  unknown.  Each  farmer  raises  his  own  supplies,  smokes 
his  own  meat  or  buys  at  the  store  for  cash  or  on  credit.  Wheat 
and  corn  are  ground  in  local  mills.  The  heavy  interest  charges 
O'f  other  districts  are  thus  avoided.  It  is  stated  that  a  great 
number  of  the  Negroes  are  buying  little  places,  and  this  bears 
out  the  census  figures,  which  show  that  of  the  Negro  farmers 
90.9  per  cent  in  this  county  are  owners  or  managers ;  the  average 
for  the  negroes  as  a  whole  is  27.1  per  cent. 

Although  so  many  earn  money  in  the  oyster  business,  there 

are  others  who  have  gotten  ahead  by  sticking  to  the  farm.    T 

now  owns  part  of  the  place  on  which  he  was  a  slave,  and  his 
slave-time  c^bin  is  now  used  as  a  shed.  He  began  buying  land 
in  1873,  paying  from  $10  to  $11.50  per  acre,  and  by  hard  work 
and  economy  now  owns  sixty  acres  which  are  worth  much  more 
than  their  first  cost.  With  the  help  of  his  boys,  whom  he  has  , 
managed  to  keep  at  home,  he  derives  a  comfortable  income  from 
his  land.  His  daughter,  now  his  housekeeper,  teaches  school  near 
by  during  the  winter.  What  he  has  done  others  can  do,  he  says. 

Y—  -  is  another  who  has  succeeded.  His  first  payments  were 
made  from  the  sale  of  wood  cut  in  clearing  the  land.  "  In  1903  his 
acres  were  planted  as  follows : 


Orchard 2  acres.  Rye 34  acres. 

Woodland 8  acres.  Potato  patch  .  . 

Pasture 10  acreb.  Garden  and  yard. 

Corn  8  acres. 

His  children  are  being  trained  at  Hampton,  and  he  laugh- 
ingly says  that  one  boy  is  already  telling  him  how  to  get  more 
produce  from  his  land. 

B —  -  is  an  oysterman  during  the  winter.  He  has  purchased 
a  small  place  of  four  acres,  for  which  he  paid  $18  per  acre.  This 
ground  he  cultivates  and  has  a  few  apple,  plum  and  peach  trees 
in  his  yard.  His  case  is  typical. 

Wages  in  the  county  are  not,  high.  House  servants  get  from 
$3  to  $8  per  month.  Day  laborers  are  paid  from  50  to  75  cents 
a  day.  Farm  hands  get  about  $10  a  month  and  two  meals  daily 
(breakfast  and  dinner).  I  have  already  mentioned  that  farm 
laborers  were  getting  fewer,  and  those  left  are  naturally  the 
less  reliable.  Many  white  farmers  are  having  considerable  dif- 
ficulty in  carrying  on  their  places.  The  result  is  that  many  are 
only  partially  cultivating  the  farms,  and  many  of  the  younger 
men  are  abandoning  agriculture.  What  the  final  result  will  be 
is  hard  to  tell. 

In  summarizing  it  may  be  said  that  agriculture  is  being  some- 
what neglected  and  that  the  opportunity  to  earn  money  in  the 
oyster  industry  acts  as  a  constant  deterrent  to  agricultural  prog- 
ress, if  it  is  not  directly  injurious.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  there  is 
room  for  improvement  in  methods  of  tilling  the  soil  and  in  rota- 
tion of  crops,'  use  of  animal  manures,  etc. 

The  general  social  and  moral  improvement  has  been  noted. 
It  is  a  pleasure  to  find  that  one  of  the  strongest  factors  in  this 
improvement  is  due  to  the  presence  in  the  county  of  a  number  of 
graduates  of  Hampton  who,  in  their  homes,  their  schools  and 
daily  life,  have  stood  for  better  things. 

CENTRAL  VIRGINIA. 

The  difficulty  of  making  general  statements  true  in  all  dis- 
tricts has  elsewhere  been  mentioned.  The  reader  will  not  be 
surprised,  therefore,  to  find  many  things  said  in  the  immediately 
preceding  pages  inapplicable  to  conditions  in  the  tobacco  dis- 
tricts. The  little  town  of  Farmville,  Va.,  is  the  market  for  some 
12,000,000  pounds  of  tobacco  yearly.  The  county  Prince  Edward 
contained  in  1890  9,924  Negroes  and  in  1900  but  9,769,  a  decrease 
of  155.  The  county  does  not  give  one  the  impression  of  agri- 
cultural prosperity.  The  surface  is  very  rolling,  the  soil  sandy 
and  thin  in  many  places.  Along  the  bottoms  there  is  good  land, 
of  less  value  than  formerly  because  of  freshets.  Practically  all 
of  the  land  has  been  under  cultivation  at  some  time,  and  in 
heavily  wooded  fields  the  corn  rows  may  often  be  traced.  On 
every  side  are  worn-out  fields  on  which  sassafras  soon  gets  a 
hold,  followed  by  pine  and  other  trees. 

85 


Labor  conditions  have  been  growing  worse,  according  to 
common  report.  It  is  harder  "to  get  farm  hands  than  formerly, 
and  this  difficulty  is  most  felt  by  those  who  exact  the  most.  The 
day  laborer  gets  from  40  to  50  cents  and  his  meals,  while  for 
special  work,  such  as  cutting  wheat,  the  wage  may  rise  to  $1.50. 
Women  no  longer  work  in  the  fields,  and  about  the  house  get 
35  cents  per  day.  Formerly  women  worked  in  the  fields,  and 
wages  for  both  sexes  were  lower.  Hands  by  the  month  get  $7 
to  $8  and  board.  In  this  county  are  many  small  white  farmers 
who  work  in  the  fields  with  the  men,  and  the  white  housewife 
not  infrequently  cooks  the  food  for  the  Negroes — quite  a  con- 
trast to  typical  southern  practice. 

The  movement  from  the  farm  is  not  an  unmjxed  evil  in 
that  it  is  compelling  the  introduction  of  improved  machinery, 
such  as  mowing  machines,  binders.  On  many  a  farm  only 
scythes  and  cradles  are  known. 

Another  element  in  the  problem  is  the  fact  that  many  negroes 
have  been  getting  little  places  of  their  own  and  therefore  do  less 
work  for  others.  There  are  many  whites  who  think  this  develop- 
ment a  step  forward  and  believe  that  the  land  owners  are  better 
citizens.  There  are  others  who  claim  that  the  net  result  is  a 
loss,  in  that  they  are  satisfied  merely  to  eke  out  some  sort  of  an 
•existence  and  are  not  spurred  on  to  increased  production.  It  is 
quite  commonly  reported  that  there  were  some  organizations 
among  the  Negroes  whose  members  agreed  not  to  work  for  the 
whites,  but  I  cannot  vouch  for  their  existence. 

Although  agriculture  here  is  much  more  diversified  than  in 
the  cotton  belt,  the  Negro  finds  it  necessary  to  get  advances. 
These  are  usually  supplied  by  commission  merchants,  who  furnish 
the  fertilizers  and  necessary  food,  taking  crop  liens  as  security. 
Advances  begin  in  the  spring  and  last  until  the  following  Decem- 
ber, when  the  tobacco  is  marketed.  The  interest  charged  is  6 
per  cent,  but  the  goods  sold  on  this  plan  are  much  enhanced  in 
price ;  interest  is  usually  charged  for  a  year,  and  the  merchant 
receives  a  commission  of  2-|  per  cent  for  selling  the  tobacco,  so 
the  business  appears  fairly  profitable. 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  average  value  of  an  acre  of 
tobacco,  as  it  varies  so  much  in  quality  as  well  as  quantity.  It  is 
probably  safe  to  say  that  the  Negroes  do  not  average  over  $20 
per  acre,  ranging  from  $15  to  $25,  and  have  perhaps  three  *or 
four  acres  in  tobacco.  It  is  generally  expected  that  the  tobacco 
will  about  pay  for  the  advances.  This  would  indicate,  and  the 
commission  men  confirm  it,  that  the  average  advance  is  between 
$50  and  $75  per  year.  The  rations  given  out  are  no  longer 
merely  pork  and  meal,  with  which  it  is  stated  that  the  Negroes 
are  not  now  content,  but  include  a  more  varied  diet. 

The  customary  rent  is  one-fourth  of  all  that  is  produced,  the 
landlord  paving  one-fourth  of  the  fertilizer  (universally  called 
guano  in  this  district).  Tobacco  makes  heavy  demands  on  the 


soil  and  at  least  400  pounds,  a  value  of  about  $4.50  per  acre, 
should  be  used.  When  the  landlord  furnishes  the  horse  or  mule 
he  pays  also  one-half  of  the  fertilizer  and  gets  one-half  of  the 
produce.  The  rent  on  tobacco  land  is  thus  large,  but  the  average 
cash  rental  is  between  $2  and  $3. 

The  standard  rotation  of  crops  is  tobacco,  wheat,  clover,  to- 
bacco. The  clover  is  not  infrequently-  skipped,  the  field  lying 
fallow  or  uncultivated  until  exhausted.  The  average  farmer  thus 
has  about  as  many  acres  in  wheat  as  in  tobacco  and  raises  per- 
haps twelve  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre.  Some  corn  is  also 
raised,  and  I  have  seen  fields  so  exhausted  that  the  stalk  at  the 
ground  was  scarcely  larger  than  my  middle  finger.  The  corn 
crop  may  possibly  average  10  to  15  bushels  per  acre,  or,  in  Vir- 
ginia terminology,  2  to  3  barrels. 

The  average  farmer  under  present  conditions  just  about  meets 
his  advances  with  the  tobacco  raised.  He  has  about  enough  wheat 
to  supply  him  with  flour ;  perhaps  enough  corn  and  hay  for  his 
ox  or  horse ;  possiblv  enough  meat  for  the  family.  The  individual 
family  may  fall  short  on  any  of  these.  The  hay  crop  is  unsatis- 
factory, largely  through  neglect.  In  May,  1903,  on  a  Saturday,  I 
saw  wagon  after  wagon  leaving  Farmville  carrying  bales  of 
western  hay.  This  is  scarcely  an  indication  of  thrift. 

The  impression  one  gets  from  traveling  about  is  that  the 
extensive  cultivation  of  tobacco,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  is 
the  cash  crop  and  perhaps  also  the  most  profitable,  is  really  a 
drawback  in  that  other  possibilities  are  obscured.  It  may  be  that 
the  line  of  progress  will  not  be  to  abandon  tobacco,  but  to  intro- 
duce more  intensive  cultivation,  for  the  average  man,  white  or 
black,  does  not  get  a  proper  return  from  an  acre.  To-day  there 
is  always  a  likelihood  that  more  tobacco  will  be  planted  than  can- 
be  properly  cultivated,  for  it  is  a  plant  which  demands  constant 
and  careful  attention  until  it  is  marketed. 

B —  -  has  a  big  family  of  children  and  lives  in  a  large  cabinr 
one  room  with  a  loft.  He  owns  a  pair  of  oxen  and  manages  ta 
raise  enough  to  feed  them.  He  also  raises  about  enough  meat 
for  his  family.  During  the  season  of  1902  he  raised  $175  worth 
of  tobacco ;  corn  valued  at  $37.50  and  16  bushels  of  wheat,  a 
total  of  about  $221.  Deducting  one-fourth  for  rent  and  estimat- 
ing his  expenses  for  fertilizer  at  $25,  he  had  about  $140  out  of 
which  to  pay  all  other  expenses.  B —  -  is  considered  a  very 
good  man,  who  tends  carefuly  and  faithfully  to  his  work.  It  is 
evident,  however,  that  his  margin  is  small. 

The  farmer  has  opportunities  to  supplement  his  earnings. 
Cordwood  finds  ready  sale  in  the  towns  at  $2  per  cord,  and  I 
have  seen  many  loads  of  not  over  one-fourth  of  a  cord  hauled 
to  market  by  a  small  steer.  Butter,  eggs  and  chickens  yield  some 
returns  and  the  country  produces  blackberries  in  profusion. 

There  are  some  Negroes  who  are  making  a  comfortable  living 
on  the  farms  and  whose  houses  and  yards  are  well  kept.  As  has 

37 


been  said,  this  is  not  the  general  impression  made  by  the  district. 
Considerable  sums  of  money  are  sent  in  by  children  working  in 
the  northern  cities.  This  is  offset,  however,  by  those  who  come 
back  in  the  winter  to  live  off  their  parents,  having  squandered 
all  their  own  earnings  elsewhere. 

The  situation  in  a  word  is :  A  generation  or  more  of  reliance 
on  one  crop,  neglect  of  other  crops  and  of  stock,  resulting  in' 
deteriorated  land.  The  labor  force  attracted  to  the  towns  and 
the  North  by  higher  wages.  Natural  result:  Decadence  of  agri- 
cultural conditions,  affording  at  the  same  time  a  chance  for  many 
Negroes  to  become  land  owners.  When  the  process  will  stop  or 
the  way  out  I  know  not.  Perhaps  the  German  immigrants  who 
are  beginning  to  buy  up  some  of  the  farms  may  lead  the  way 
to  a  better  husbandry. 

For  an  interesting 'account  of  conditions  in  the  town  of  Farm- 
ville  see  'The  Negroes  of  Farmville,"  by  W.  E.  B.  DuBois,  Bul- 
letin Department  of  Labor,  January,  1898. 

THE  SEA  COAST. 

The  low-lying  coast  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  with  its 
fringe  of  islands,  has  long  been  the  seat  of  a  heavy  Negro  popu- 
lation. Of  the  counties  perh'aps  none  is  more  interesting  than 
Beaufort,  the  southernmost  of  South  Carolina.  The  eastern  half 
of  the  county  is  cut  up  by  many  salt  rivers  into  numerous  islands. 
Broad  River  separates  these  from  the  mainland.  The  Plant 
System  has  a  line  on  the  western  edge  of  the  county,  while  the 


A   SEA-ISLAND  CABIN. 
38 


Georgia  Railroad  runs  east  to  Port  Royal.  According  to  the 
census,  the  county  contains  943  square  miles  of  land  and  a 
population  of  32,137  blacks  and  3,349  whites,  the  Negroes  thus 
forming  90  per  cent  of  the  total.  There  are  37  persons  to  the 
square  mile.  With  the  exception  of  Beaufort  and  Port  Royal, 
the  whites  are  found  on  the  western  side  of  the  county.  The 
islands  are  almost  solid  black.  Just  after  the  war  many  of  the 
plantations  were  sold  for  taxes  and  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Negroes,  the  funds  realized  being  set  apart  for  the  education  of 
the  blacks,  the  interest  now  amounting  to  some  $2,000  a  year. 
In  the  seventies  there  was  a  great  Development  of  the  phosphate 
industry,  which  at  its  height  employed  hundreds  of  Negroes, 
taken  from  the  farms.  Enormo'us  fertilizer  plants  were  erected. 
Most  of  this  is  now  a  thing  of  the  past  and  the  dredges  lie  rot- 
ting at  the  wharves.  It  is  the  general  opinion  that  the  influence 
of  this  industry  was  not  entirely  beneficial,  although  it  set  much 
money  in  circulation.  It  drew  the  men  from  the  farms,  and 
now  they  tend  to  drift  to  the  cities  rather  than  return. 

A  livelihood  is  easily  gained.  The  creeks  abound  with  fish, 
crabs  and  oysters.  There  is  plenty  of  work  on  the  farms  for 
those  who  prefer  more  steady  labor.  Land  valued  at  about  $10 
per  acre  may  be  rented  for  $i.  More  than  ten  acres  to  the 
tenant  is  not  usual,  and  I  was  told  that  it  is  very  common  for  a 
family  to  rent  all  the  land  it  wants  for  $10  per  year,  the  pre- 
sumption being  that  not  over  ten  acres  would  be  utilized.  The 
staple  crop  for  the  small  farmer  is  the  sea  island  cotton.  Under 
the  present  culture  land  devoted  to  this  lies  fallow  every  other 
year.  The  islands  are  low  and  flat,  subject  to  severe  storms, 
that  of  1893  having  destroyed  many  lives  and  much  property. 
The  county  was  originallv  heavily  wooded  and  there  is  still  an 
abundance  for  local  purposes,  though  the  supply  is  low  in  places. 
On  the  islands  the  blacks  have  been  almost  alone  for  a  genera- 
tion and  by  many  it  is  claimed  that  there  has  been  a  decided 
retrogression.  By  common  consent  St.  Helena  Island,  which 
lies  near  Beaufort,  is  considered  the  most  prosperous  of  the 
Negro  districts.  On  this  island  are  over  8,000  blacks  and  some 
200  whites.  The  cabins  usually  have  two  rooms,  many  having 
been  partitioned  to  make  the  second.  Thev  are  of  rough  lumber, 
sometimes  whitewashed,  but  seldom  painted.  There  are  few 
fences  and  some  damaee  is  clone  by  stock.  Outbuildings  are  few ; 
privies  are  almost  unknown — even  at  the  schools  there  are  no 
closets  of  anv  kind.  The  wells  are  shallow,  six  feet  or  so  in  depth 
with  a  few  driven  to  12  or  17  feet.  A  few  have  pumps,  the  rest 
are  open.  At  present  there  is  no  dispensary  on  the  island  but 
there  are  a  number  of  "blind  beers."  The  nearest  physician  is  at 
Beaufort  and  the  cost  of  a  single  visit  is  from,  five  to  ten  dollars. 
The  distance  from  the  doctors  is  said  not  to  be  an  unmixed  evil 
as  it  saves  much  foolish  expenditure  of  money  in  fancied  ills. 

In  slavery  times  there  were  61  plantations  on  the  island  and 


their  names,  as  Fripps  Corner,  Oaks,  still  survive  to  designate 
localities.  There  was  in  olden  times  little  contact  with  the  whites 
as  Negro  drivers  were  common.  Each  plantation  still  has  its 
'"prayer  house"  at  which  religious  services  are  held.  Meetings 
occur  on  different  nights  on  the  various  plantations  to  enable  the 
people  to  get  all  the  religion  they  need.  These  meetings  are  often 
what  are  known  as  "shouts,"  when  with  much  shouting  and  wild 
rhythmic  dancing  the  participants  keep  on  till  exhausted.  The 
suggestion  of  Africa  is  not  vague.  The  Virginia  Negro  views 
these  gatherings  with  as  much  astonishment  as  does  any  white. 
Many  of  the  blacks  speak  a  strange  dialect  hard  to  understand. 
"Shum,"  for  instance,  being  the  equivalent  for  "see  them." 

The  land  is  sandy  and  should  have  skillful  handling  to  get  the 
best  results.  Yet  the  farming  is  very  unscientific.  The  first 
plowing  is  shallow,  and  subsequent  cultivation  is  done  almost  en- 
tirely with  hoes.  When  a  Hampton  graduate  began  some  new 
methods  last  year  the  people  came  for  miles  to  see  his  big  plow. 
It  is  said  that  there  was  more  plowing  than  usual  as  a  result. 
The  daily  life  of  the  farmer  is  about  as  follows :  Rising  be- 
tween four  and  five  he  goes  directly  to  the  field,  eating  nothing 
until  eight  or  nine,  when  he  has  some  "grits,"  a  sort  of  fine 
hominy  cooked  like  oat  meal.  Many  eat  nothing  until  they  leave 
the  field  at  eleven  for  dinner,  which  also  consists  of  grits  with 
some  crabs  in  summer  and  fish  in  winter.  Some  have  only  these 
two  meals  a  day.  Corn  bread  and  molasses  are  almost  unknown 
and  when  they  have  molasses  it  is  eaten  with  a  spoon.  Knives 
and  forks  are  seldom  used.  One  girl  of  eighteen  did  not  know 
how  to  handle  a  knife.  There  are  numbers  of  cows  on  the 
island,  but  milk  is  seldom  served,  the  cattle  being  sold  for  beef. 
The  draft  animals  are  usually  small  oxen  or  ponies,  called  "salt 
marsh  tackies,"  as  they  are  left  to  pick  their  living  from  the 
marshes.  Some  chickens  and  turkeys  are  raised,  but  no  great 
dependence  is  placed  on  them.  There  are  no  geese  and  few 
ducks.  Little  commercial  fertilizer  is  used,  the  marsh  grass, 
which  grows  in  great  abundance,  being  an  excellent  substitute  of 
which  the  more  progressive  take  advantage.  The  following  state- 
ment will  illustrate  the  situation  of  three  typical  families,  an  un- 
usual, a  good,  and  an  average  farmer.  The  figures  are  for  1902 : 

No.  i.  No.  2.  No.  3. 

Number  in  family ....'.....  8  13  4 

Number  rooms  6  5  2 

Number  outbuildings  5  3  o 

Number  horses 4  i  o 

Number  cows  9  5  i 

Number  hogs 10  3  o 

Number  other  animals   i  dog  2  goats        i  dog 

i  dog 

Number  fowls 90  30  10 

Acres  of  land  owned 55  21  o 

Acres  of  land  rented  o  o 

Acres  in  cotton  10  3.5 

40 


No.  i.  No.  2.         No   3. 

Acres  in  corn  ... 8  5  5 

Acres  in  sweet  potatoes  3  3.5  ^ 

Acres  in  white  potatoes   54  o  o 

Acres  in  peas  (cow)    5.5  1.5 


Acres  in  rice 1.5  o  o 

Garden    Very  small       Poor  None 

The  rice  is  grown  without  flooding  and  known  as  "Providence 
Rice." 

With  the  great  ease  of  getting  a  livelihood  the  advances 
necessarily  are  small.  From  January  i,  1902,  to  July  15  (which 
is  near  the  close  of  the  advancing  season)  several  average  fam- 
ilies had  gotten  advances  averaging  $15.00.  The  firm  which  does 
most  of  the  advancing  on  the  Island  writes :  "We  have  some 
that  get  more.  A  few  get  $50.00  or  about  that  amount,  but  we 
make  it  a  point  not  to  let  the  colored  people  or  our  customers 
get  too  much  in  debt.  We  have  to  determine  about  what  they 
need  and  we  have  always  given  them  what  was  necessary  to 
help  them  make  a  crop  according  to  their  conditions  and  circum- 
stances as  they  present  themselves  to  us."  The  firm  reports  that 
they  collect  each  year  about  90  per  cent  of  their  outstanding 
accounts. 

Below  are  given  the  customary  forms  of  the  Bill  of  Sale  and 
the  Crop  Lien  given  to  secure  advances : 

THE  STATE  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA, 
COUNTY  OF  BEAUFORT. 

Know  all  men  by  these  presents,  that   of  the  said 

County,  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of dollars,  to  be  advanced 

in  merchandise  by ,  of  Beaufort  County  and  State,  have 

bargained  and  sold  unto  the  said the  following  personal 

property, ,  now  in  my  possession,  and  which  I  promise 

to  deliver  on  demand  of  the  said 

(Signed)  


On  the  ....   day  of  19...,  I  promise  to  pay  to  the  order  of  

,  at  Beaufort,  South  Carolina, dollars  for  money  and 

supplies  to  be  advanced  and  furnished  me  by  the  said  , 

merchants,  Beaufort.  South  Carolina,  for  use  in  the  cultivation  of  crops 
on  the  plantation  or  farm  cultivated  by  me  in  Beaufort  County,  South 

Carolina,    known    as    the    plantation,    and    containing 

about  acres,  during  the  year  190.  .. 

And  in   consideration   of  the   said  advance  made  me  I  hereby   give, 

make  and  grant  to  the  said a  lien  to  the  extent  of  said 

advance  on  all  the  crops  which  may  be  grown  on  the  said  plantation  or 
farm  during  the  year  190..,  wherever  said  crops  or  parts  of  them  are 
found. 

This  lien  hereby  given  is  executed  and  to  be  enforced  in  accordance 
with  the  laws  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina. 

I,  the  said   in  consideration  of  the  foregoing,  do 

hereby  agree  to  advance  to  the  said dollars, 

as  above  stated. 

Witness  the  hands  and  seals  of  both  parties. 

In  the  presence  of  ,  L.  S. 

...... ,L.  S. 

This  is  then  recorded  in  the  County  Court  as  is  an  ordinary 
mortgage. 

41 


On  this  island  considerable  money  has  been  saved  and  is  now 
deposited  with  a  firm  of  merchants  in  whom  the  people  have 
confidence.  In  July,  1902,  there  were  about  100  individual  de- 
positors having  some  $4,000  to  their  credit.  The  money  can  be 
withdrawn  at  any  time,  all  debts  to  the  firm  being  first  settled. 
Interest  at  five  per  cent,  is  allowed.  Some  of  this  money  comes 
from  pensions.  There  are  round  about  Beaufort  a  considerable 
number  of  U.  S.  pensioners,  as  the  city  was  headquarters  for 
Union  soldiers  for  a  long  time.  The  effect  of  the  pensions  is 
claimed  both  by  whites  and  blacks  to  be  bad. 

A  great  deal  of  the  credit  for  the  good  conditions,  relatively 
speaking,  which  prevail  on  St.  Helena  is  given  to  the  Penn 
School  which  for  years  has  come  into  close  touch  with  the  lives 
of  the  people.  The  Negroes  have  also  been  in  touch  with  a  good 
class  of  whites,  who  have  encouraged  all  efforts  at  improve- 
ment. Wherever  the  credit  lies,  the  visitor  is  struck  by  the 
difference  between  conditions  here  and  on  some  other  islands, 
for  instance,  Ladv's  Island,  which  lies  between  St.  Helena  and 
Beaufort.  Even  here  it  is  claimed  that  the  older  generation  is 
more  industrious. 

In  the  trucking  industry,  which  is  very  profitable  along  the 
coast,  the  Negroes  have  only  been  engaged  as  ordinary  laborers. 
On  the  main  land,  wherever  fresh  water  can  be  obtained,  is 
the  seat  of  a  considerable  rice  industry.  In  recent  years,  owing 
to  the  cutting  of  the  forests  in  the  hills,  the  planters  are  troubled 
by  freshets  in  the  spring  and  droughts  in  the  summer.  The  work 
is  done  by  Negroes  under  direction  of  white  foremen.  The  men 
work  harder  on  contract  jobs,  but  work  by  the  day  is  better 
done.  Women  are  in  better  repute  as  laborers  than  the  men 
and  it  is  stated  that  more  women  support  their  husbands  than 
formerly  was  the  case.  Wages  range  from  $.35  to  $.50  per  day, 
varying  somewhat  according  to  the  work  done.  They  are  paid 
in  cash  and  the  planters  have  given  up  the  plantation  store  in 
many  cases.  All  work  must  be  constantly  supervised  and  it  is 
said  to  be  harder  and  harder  to  get  work  done.  A  planter  found 
it  almost  impossible  in  the  winter  of  1901  to  get  fifty  cords  of 
wood  cut,  the  work  being  considered  too  heavy.  When  I  left 
the  train  at  Beaufort  and  found  twelve  hacks  waiting  for  about 
three  passengers  it  was  evident  where  some  of  the  labor  force 
had  gone. 

In  this  county  there  is  a  great  development  of  burial  and 
sick  benefit  societies.  The  "Morning  Star1',  "Star  of  Hope", 
"Star  of  Bethlehem"  are  typical  names.  The  dues  are  from  five 
to  ten  cents  a  week.  Many  of  the  societies  have  good  sized  halls, 
rivaling  ofttimes  the  churches,  en  the  various  islands,  which 
are  used  for  lodge  and  social  purposes. 

Beaufort  and  the  other  towns  offer  the  country  people  an 
opportunity  to  dispose  of  fish  and  any  garden  produce  they  may 
raise,  while  it  is  not  uncommon  to  see  a  little  ox  dragging  a 

42 


two-wheeled  cart  and  perhaps  a  quarter  of  a  cord  of  wood  to 
be  hawked  about  town.  During  part  of  the  summer  a  good  many 
gather  a  species  of  plant  which  is  used  in  adulterating  cigarettes 
and  cigars. 

This  little  account  indicates  that,  so  far  as  the  farmers  are 
concerned,  there  are  few  evidences  of  any  decided  progress  save 
in  the  district  which  has  been  under  the  influence  of  one  school. 
The  ease  of  getting  a  livelihood  acts  as  a  deterrent  to  ambition. 
Yet  the  old  families  say  that  they  have  the  "best  niggers  of  the 
South"  and  certain  it  is  that  race  troubles  are  unknown. 

CENTRAL  DISTRICT. 

In  the  central  district  life  is  a  little  more  strenuous  than  on 
the  sea  coast.  The  cabins  are  about  the  same.  The  average 
tenant  has  a  "one  mule  farm,"  some  thirty  or  thirty-five  acres 
Occasionally  the  tenant  has  more  land,  but  only  about  this  amount 
is  cultivated  and  no  rent  is  paid  for  the  balance.  The  area  of  the 
land  is  usually  estimated  and  only  rarely  is  it  surveyed.  This 
land  ranges  in  value  from  $5.00  to  $15.00  per  acre  on  the  average. 


THE   OLD  CABIN. 

The  customary  rental  for  a  "one  mule  farm"  is  about  two  bales 
of  cotton,  whose  value  in  recent  years  would  be  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  $75.00,  thus  making  the  rental  about  $3.00  per  acre. 
On  this  farm  from  four  to  six"  bales  of  cotton  are  raised.  The 
soil  has  been  injured  by  improper  tillage  and  requires  an  ex- 
penditure of  $1.75  to  $2.00  per  acre  for  fertilizers  if  the  best  re- 
sults are  to  be  obtained.  As  yet  the  Negroes  do  not  fully  ap- 

43 


preciate  this.  The  farmer  secures  advances  based  on  I  peck  of 
meal  and  3  pounds  of  "side  meat,"  fat  salt  pork,  per  week  for 
each  working  hand.  About  six  dollars  a  month  is  the  limit  for 
advances  and  as  these  are  continued  for  only  seven  months  or  so 
the  average  advance  received  is  probably  not  far  from  $50.00 
per  year.  An  advance  of  $10.00  per  month  is  allowed  for  a  two 
.horse  farm.  The  advancer  obligates  himself  to  furnish  only 
necessities  and  any  incidentals  must  be  supplied  from  sale  of 
poultry,  berries  and  the  like.  Clothing  may  often  be  reckoned 
as  an  incidental.  The  luxuries  are  bought  with  cash  or  on  the 
installment  plan  and  are  seldom  indicated  by  the  books  of  the 
merchant.  The  cost  of  the  average  weekly  advances  for  a  family 
in  1902  was : 

10  pounds  meat  (salt  port  sides)  @  I3^c $1-35 

i  bushel  corn  meal   90 

i  plug  tobacco   (reckoned  a.  necessity) 10 

$2.35 


THE   NEW   HOUSE, 


Conditions  throughout  this  district  are  believed  to  be  fairly 
uniform,  but  the  following  information  was  gathered  in  Lowndes 
County,  Alabama,  so  has  closest  connection  with  the  prairie  re- 
gion of  that  state : 

Lowndes  County  lies  just  southwest  of  Montgomery  and  there 
are  47  persons  to  the  square  mile.  The  Negroes  form  86  per 
cent,  of  the  population.  East  and  West  throughout  the  county 
rjms  the  Chennenugga  Ridge,  a  narrow  belt  of  hills  which  sepa- 
rate the  prairie  from  the  pine  hills  to  the  South.  The  ridge  is 


44 


No. 
Rooms. 

Largest  No.        Average  No. 
Persons.               Persons. 

i 

ii 

6 

2 

12  (3  fam.) 

6 

3 

9 

5 

4 

14 

6 

5 

9 

5 

quite  broken   and   in  places  can  not  be   tilled   profitably.     The 
county  is  of  average  fertility,  however. 

There  are  not  an  unusual  number  of  one-room  cabins.  Out  of 
74  families,  comprising  416  people,  the  average  was  7  to  the 
room,  the  greatest  number  living  in  one  room  was  n.  The 
families  were  housed  as  follows : 

No. 

Families. 
17 
31 
16 

7 
'  3 

The  cabins  are  built  of  both  boards  and  logs  as  indicated  by 
cuts  on  pages  43  and  4  4  while  the  interior  economy  is  well  shown 
by  the  photograph  on  page  29. 

Field  work  is  from  sun  to  sun  with  two  hours  or  so  rest  at 
noon.  The  man  usually  eats  breakfast  in  the  field,  the  wife 
staying  behind  to  prepare  it.  It  consists  of  pork  and  corn 
bread.  The  family  come  from  the  field  about  noon  and  have 
dinner  consisting  of  pork  and  corn  bread,  with  collards,  turnip 
greens,  roasting  ears,  etc.  At  sundown  work  stops  and  supper  is 
eaten,  the  menu  being  as  at  breakfast.  The  pork  eaten  by  the 
Negroes,  it  may  be  said,  is  almost  solid  fat,  two  or  three  inches 
thick,  lean  meat  not  being  liked.  The  housewife  has  few  dishes, 
the  food  being  cooked  in  pots  or  in  small  ovens  set  among  the 
ashes.  Stoves  are  a  rarity.  Lamps  are  occasionally  used,  but 
if  the  chimney  be  broken  it  is  rarely  replaced,  the  remainder 
being  quite  good  enough  for  ordinary  purposes.  The  cabins  sel- 
dom have  glass  windows,  but  instead  wooden  shutters,  which 
swing  outward  on  hinges.  These  are  shut  at  night  and  even 
during  the  hottest  summer  weather  there  is  practically  no  ven- 
tilation. How  it  is  endured  I  know  not,  but  the  custom  pre- 
vails even  in  Porto  Rico  I  am  told.  In  winter  the  cabins  are  cold. 
To  meet  this  the  thrifty  housewife  makes  bed  quilts  and  as 
many  as  25  or  30  of  these  are  not  infrequently  found  in  a  small 
cabin.  The  floors  are  rough  and  not  always  of  matched  lumber, 
while  the  cabins  are  poorly  built.  The  usual  means  of  heating, 
and  cooking,  is  the  big  fireplace.  Sometimes  the  chimney  is 
built  of  sticks  daubed  over  with  mud,  the  top  of  the  chimney 
often  failing-  to  reach  the  ridge  of  the  roof.  Fires  sometimes 
result.  Tables  and  chairs  are  rough  and  rude.  Sheets  are  few, 
the  mattresses  are  of  cotton,  corn  shucks  or  pine  straw,  and  the 
pillows  of  home  grown  feathers. 

The  following  regarding  the  cooking  of  the  Alabama  Negro 
is  taken  from  a  letter  published  in  Bulletin  No.  38,  U.  S.  De- 
partment of  Agriculture,  Office  of  the  Experiment  Stations : 

"The  daily  fare  is  prepared  in  very  simple  ways.  Corn  meal  is  mixed 
with  water  and  baked  on  the  flat  surface  of  a  hoe  or  griddle.  The  salt 
pork  is  sliced  thin  and  fried  until  very  brown  and  much  of  the  grease 

45 


tried  out.  Molasses  from  cane  or  sorghum  is  added  to  the  fat,  making 
what  is  known  as  'sap/  which  is  e^ten  with  the  corn  bread.  Hot  water 
sweetened  with  molasses  is  used  as  a  beverage.  This  is  the  bill  of  fare 
of  most  of  the  cabins  on  the  plantations  of  the  'black  belt'  three  times 
a  day  during  the  year.  It  is,  however,  varied  at  times ;  thus  collards  and 
turnips  are  boiled  with  the  bacon,  the  latter  being  used  with  the  vegeta- 
bles to  supply  fat  'to  make  it  rich.'  The  corn  meal  bread  is  sometimes 
made  into  so-called  'cracklin  bread,'  and  is  prepared  as  follows :  A  piece 
of  fat  bacon  is  fried  until  it  is  brittle;  it  is  then  crushed  and  mixed  with 
corn  meal,  water,  soda  and  salt,  and  baked  in  an  oven  over  the  fireplace. 
.  .  .  One  characteristic  of  the  cooking  is  that  all  meats  are  fried  or 
otherwise  cooked  until  they  are  crisp.  Observation  among  these  people 
reveals  the  fact  that  very  many  of  them  suffer  from  indigestion  in 
some  form." 

As  elsewhere  the  advances  are  supplied  by  the  planter  or  some 
merchant.  The  legal  rate  of  interest  is  8  per  cent,  but  no  Negro 
ever  borrows  money  at  this  rate.  Ten  per  cent,  per  year  is 
considered  cheap,  while  on  short  terms  the  rate  is  often  10  per 
cent,  per  week.  The  average  tenant  pays  from  12.5  per  cent,  to 
15  per  cent,  for  his  advances,  which  are  sold  at  an  average  of 
25  per  cent,  higher  than  cash  prices  on  the  average.  To  avoid 
any  possible  trouble  it  is  quite  customary  to  reckon  the  interest 
and  then  figure  this  into  the  face  of  the  note  so  that  none  can 
tell  either  the  principal  or  the  rate.  Below  is  an  actual  copy  of 
such  a  note,  the  names  being  changed : 

$22.00.  Calhoun,  Alabama,  June  2,  1900. 

On  the  first  day  of  October,  1900,  I  promise  to  pay  to  the  order  of 
A.  B.  See  Twenty  Two  Dollars  at 

Value  received. 

And  so  far  as  this  debt  is  concerned,  and  as  part  of  the  consideration 
thereof,  I  do  hereby  waive  all  right  which  I  or  either  of  us  have  under 
the  Constitution  and  Laws  of  this  or  any  other  State  to  claim  or  hold 
any  personal  property  exempt  to  me  from  levy  and  sale  under  execution. 
And  should  it  become  necessary  to  employ  an  attorney  in  the  collection  oi 
this  debt  I  promise  to  pay  all  reasonable  attorney's  fees  charged  therefor. 

ATTEST:     C  W.  JAMES.  his 

A.  T.  JONES.  JOHN  X  SMITH. 

mark. 

The  possibility  of  extortion  which  this  method  makes  possible 
is  evident. 

It  is  worth  while  also  to  reproduce  a  copy,  actual  with  the 
exception  of  the  names,  of  one  of  the  blanket  mortgages  often 
given.  The  italics  are  mine. 

THE  STATE  OF  ALABAMA, 
LOWNDES  COUNTY. 

On  or  before  the  first  day  of  October  next  I  promise  to  pay  Jones  and 
Co.,  or  order,  the  sum  of  $77.00  at  their  office  in  Fort  Deposit,  Alabama. 
And  I  hereby  waive  all  right  of  exemption  secured  to  me  under  and  by 
the  Laws  and  Constitution  of  the  State  of  Alabama  as  to  the  collection  of 
this  debt.  And  I  agree  to  pay  all  the  costs  of  making,  recording,  pro- 
bating or  acknowledging  this  instrument,  together  with  a  reasonable  attor- 
ney's fee,  and  all  other  expenses  incident  to  the  collection  of  this  debt, 
whether  by  suit  or  otherwise.  And  to  secure  the  payment  of  the  above 
note,  as  well  as  all  other  indebtedness  I  may  now  owe  the  said  Jones  and 
Co.,  and  all  future  advances  I  may  purchase  from  the  said  Jones  and  Co. 
during  the  year  1900,  whether  due  and  payable  during  the  year  1900  or  not, 
and  for  the  further  consideration  of  one  Dollar  to  me  in  hand  paid  by 

46 


Jones  and  Co.,  the  receipt  whereof  I  do  hereby  acknowledge,  I  dp  hereby 
grant,  bargain,  sell  and  convey  unto  said  Jones  and  Co.  the  entire  crops 
of  corn,  cotton,  cotton  seed,  fodder,  potatoes,  sugar  cane  and  its  products 
and  all  other  crops  of  every  kind  and  description  which  may  be  made 
and  grown  during  the  year  1900  on  lands  owned,  leased,  rented  or  farmed 
on  shares  for  or  by  the  undersigned  in  Lowndes  County,  Alabama,  or 
elsewhere.  Also  any  crops  to  or  in  which  the  undersigned  has  or  may 
have  any  interest,  right,  claim  or  title  in  Lowndes  County  or  elsewhere 
during  and  for  each  succeeding  year  until  the  indebtedness  secured  by  this 
instrument  is  fully  paid.  Also  all  the  corn,  cotton,  cotton  seed,  fodder, 
peas,  and  all  other  farm  produce  now  in  the  possession  of  the  undersigned. 
Also  all  the  live  stock,  vehicles  and  farming  implements  now  owned  by 
or  furnished  to  the  undersigned  by  Jones  and  Co.  during  the  year  1900. 
Also  one  red  horse  "Lee,"  one  red  neck  cow  "Priest,"  and  her  calf,  one 
red  bull  yearling.  Said  property  is  situated  in  Lowndes  County,  Alabama. 
If,  after  maturity,  any  part  of  the* unpaid  indebtedness  remains  unpaid, 
Jones  and  Co.,  or  their  agents  or  assigns,  are  authorized  and  empowered 
to  seize  and  sell  all  or  any  of  the  above  described  property,  at  private 
sale  or  public  auction,  as  they  may  elect,  for  cash.  If  at  public  auction, 
before  their  store  door  or  elsewhere,  in  Fort  Deposit,  Alabama,  after 
posting  for  five  days  written  notice  of  said  sale  on  post  office  door  in 
said  town,  and  to  apply  the  proceeds  of  said  sale  to  the  payment,  first 
of  all  costs  and  expenses  provided  for  in  the  above  note  and  expense  of 
seizing  and  selling  said  property;  second,  to  payment  in  full  of  debt  or 
debts  secured  by  said  mortgage,  and  the  surplus,  if  any,  pay  to  the  under- 
signed. And  the  said  mortgagee  or  assigns  is  hereby  authorized  to  pur- 
chase at  his  own  sale  under  this  mortgage.  I  agree  that  no  member  of 
my  family,  nor  anyone  living  with  me,  nor  any  person  under  my  control, 
shall  have  an  extra  patch  on  the  above  described  lands,  unless  covered 
by  this  mortgage ;  and  I  also  agree  that  this  mortgage  shall  cover  all 
such  patches.  It  is  further  agreed  and  understood  that  any  securities  held 
by  Jones  and  Co.  as  owner  or  assignee  on  any  of  the  above  described 
property  executed  by  me  prior  to  executing  this  mortgage  shall  be  retained 
by  them,  and  shall  remain  in  full  force  and  effect  until  the  above  note 
and  future  advances  are  paid  in  full,  and  shall  be  additional  security  for 
this  debt.  There  is  no  lien  or  encumbrance  upon  any  property  conveyed 
by  this  instrument  except  that  held  by  Jones  and  Co.  and  the  above 
specified  rents.  If,  before  the  demands  hereby  secured  are  payable,  any  of 
the  property  conveyed  herein  shall  be  in  danger  of  (or  from)  waste,  de- 
struction or  rent-oval,  said  demands  shall  be  then  payable  and  all  the 
terms,  rights  and  powers  of  this  instrument  operative  and  enforceable,  as 
if  and  under  a  past  due  mortgage. 

Witness  my  hand  and  seal  this  loth  day  of  January,  1900. 

ATTEST:    B.  C.  COOK.  SAM  SMALL.     L.  S. 

R.  J.   BENNETT. 

It  may  be  granted  that  experience  has  shown  all  this  verbiage 
to  be  necessary.  In  the  hands  of  an  honest  landlord  it  is  as  mean- 
ingless as  that  in  the  ordinary  contract  we  sign  in  renting  a 
house.  In  the  hands  of  a  dishonest  landlord  or  merchant  it 
practically  enables  him  to  make  a  serf  of  the  Negro.  The  mort- 
gage is  supposed  to  be  filed  at  once,  but  it  is  sometimes  held  to  see 
if  there  is  any  other  security  which  might  be  included.  The 
rascally  creditor  watches  the  crop  and  if  the  Negro  may  have 
a  surplus  he  easily  tempts  him  to  buy  more,  or  more  simply 
still,  he  charges  to  his  account  imaginary  purchases,  so  that  at 
the  end  of  the  year  the  Negro  is  still  in  debt.  The  Negro  has 
no  redress.  He  can  not  prove  that  he  has  not  purchased  the 
goods  and  his  word  will  not  stand  against  the  merchant's.  Prac- 

47 


tically  he  is  tied  down  to  the  land,  for  no  one  else  will  advance 
him  under  these  conditions.  Sometimes  he  escapes  by  getting 
another  merchant  to  settle  his  account  and  by  becoming  the  ten- 
ant of  the  new  man.  When  it  is  remembered  that  land  is  abund- 
ont  and  good  labor  rare,  the  temptation  to  hold  a  man  on  the  land 
by  fair  means  or  foul  is  apparent.  Moreover,  the  merchant  by 
specious  reasoning  often  justifies  his  own  conduct.  He  says  that 
the  Negro  will  spend  his  money  at  the  first  opportunity  and  that 
he.  might  just  as  well  have  it  as  some  other  merchant.  I  would 
not  be  understood  as  saying  that  this  action  is  anything  but  the 
great  exception  but  there  are  dishonest  men  everywhere  who  are 
ready  to  take  advantage  of  their  weaker  fellows  and  the  Negro 
suffers  as  a  result,  just  as  the  ignorant  foreigner  does  in  the 
cities  of  the  North. 

The  interest  may  also  be  reckoned  into  the  face  of  the  mort- 
gage. In  any  case  it  begins  the  day  the  paper  is  signed,  although 
the  money  or  its  equivalent  is  only  received  at  intervals  and  a 
full  year's  interest  is  paid,  often  on  the  face  of  the  mortgage, 
even  if  only  two-thirds  of  it  has  actually  been  advanced  to  the 
Negro,  no  matter  when  the  account  is  settled.  The  helpless- 
ness of  the  Negro  who  finds  himself  in  the  hands  of  a  sharper  is 
obvious  when  that  sharper  has  practical  control  of  the  situation. 
In  many  and  curious  ways  the  landlord  seeks  to  hold  his  tenants 
He  is  expected  to  stand  by  them  in  time  of  trouble,  to  protect 
them  against  the  aggressions  of  other  blacks  and  of  whites  as 
well.  This  paternalism  is  often  carried  to  surprising  lengths. 

The  size  of  a  man's  family  is  known  and  the  riders  see  to  it 
that  he  keeps  all  the  working  hands  in  the  field.  If  the  riders 
have  any  trouble  with  a  Negro  they  are  apt  to  take  it  out  in 
physical  punishment,  to  "wear  him  out,"  as  the  phrase  goes. 
Thus  resentment  is  seldom  harbored  against  a  Negro  and  there 
are  many  who  claim  that  this  physical  discipline  is  far  better 
than  any  prison  regime  in  its  effects  upon  the  Negro.  In  spite 
of  all  that  is  done  it  is  claimed  that  the  Negroes  are  getting  less 
reliable  and  that  the  chief  dependence  is  now  in  the  older  men, 
the  women  and  the  children.  One  remark,  made  by  a  planter's 
wife,  which  impressed  me  as  having  a  good  deal  of  significance, 
was,  "the  Negroes  do  not  sing  as  much'  now  as  formerly." 

To  get  at  anything  like  an  accurate  statement  of  the  income 
and  expenses  of  a  Negro  family  is  a  difficult  matter.  The  fol- 
lowing account  of  three  families  will  give  a  fair  idea  of  their 
budget  for  part  of  the  year  at  least. 

Family  No.  i  consists  of  five  adults  (over  14)  and  one  child. 
They  live  in  a  two-roomed  cabin  and  own  one  mule,  two  horses, 
two  cows.  Their  account  with  the  landlord  for  the  years  1900 
and  1901  was: 

48 


IOOO.  IQOI. 

To  balance  1899 $  32.60  To  balance  1900 $  15.21 

Cash  ($25.00)  for  mule 36.00  Cash 26.57 

Clothing 19.68  Clothing 9.55 

Feed 15.20  Feed  and  seed M^O 

Provisions 23.00  Provisions 26.29 

Tools  2.03  Tools 55 

Interest  and  Recording  Fee.  ..   16.87  Interest  and  Recording  Fee. ..   16.34 


$145.38 


$138-70 


Their  credit  for  1901  was  $10392,  thus  leaving  a  deficit  for  the 
beginning  of  the  next  year.  As  the  advances  stop  in  August  or 
,  September,,  and  the  balance  of  the  purchases  are  for  cash  and 
may  be  at  other  stores,  there  rs  no  way  of  getting  at  them.  In 
1900  the  family  paid  $201  toward  the  85  acres  they  are  pur- 
chasing, part  of  this  sum  probably  coming  from  the  crop  of 
1899,  and  in  1901  they  made  a  further  payment  of  $34.  This 
family  is  doing  much  better  than  the  average.  It  may  be  in- 
teresting to  see  a  copy  of  his  account  for  the  year  1901  taken 
from  the  ledger  of  the  planter. 

Jan.  i.  Balance  1900  $  15.21 

Jan.  12.  10  bu.  corn,  $5.00;  fodder,  $1.20;  cash,  $8.00 14.20 

Jan.  19.  Cash  for  tax,  $1.43 ;  recording  fee,  $1.00;  cash,  $13.25 15.68 

Feb.  2.  Plowshoes,  $1.40;  gents'  hose,  loc;  20  yds.  check,  $1.00; 

2  straw  hats,  $1.20 3.70 

Feb.  2.  23.5  bu.  corn,  $14.04;  cash,  790;  shoes,  $1.50;  plow 

lines,  2oc 17.43 

Mar.  15.  15  yds.  drilling,  $1.20;  15  yds.  check,  75c;  4.5  Ibs. 

bacon,  48c 2.43 

Apr.  6.  10  bu.  corn,  $7.00;  5  bu.  cotton  seed,  $1.75;  4.5  Ibs. 

bacon,  53c 9.28 

Apr  12.  Bu.  meal,  6sc;  spool  cotton,  5c;  tobacco,  loc;  7  Ibs. 

bacon,  8ic;  5  bu.  corn.  $3.50 5.11 

May  i.  Cash,  $1.00;  30  Ibs.  bacon,  $3.45;  work  shoes,  $1.10; 

gents'  shoes,  $1.25  ;  half  bu.  meal,  35c 7.15 

May  i.  30  Ibs.  bacon,  $3.45;  (25)  30  Ibs.  bacon,  $3.30;  sack 

meal,  $1.35  8.10 

June  8.  2-3  bu.  oats,  35c;  1-3  bu.  corn,  25c;  bu.  meal,  7oc;  sack 

feed,  $2.50 3-8o 

June  14.  Sack  meal,  $1.35;  12  Ibs.  bacon,  $1.32;  cash,  $1.00;  (22) 

12  Ibs.  bacon,  $1.38 5-O5 

June  22.  Sack  meal,  $1.35 ;  sack  feed,  $2.50;  plow  sweep,  35c 4.20 

July  i.  6  Ibs.  bacon,  69c;  (5)  sack  feed,  $2.60;  half  bu.  meal,  35c; 

(9)  bu.  meal,  75c ;  10  Ibs.  bacon,  $1.15  5-54 

July  18.  8  Ibs.  bacon,  O2c;  (19)  sack  feed,  $2.60;  (25)  bu.  meal,  ooc.  4.42 

Aug.  6.  Half  bu.  meal,  5oc  ;  4  Ibs.  bacon,  46c ;  cash,  35c 1.31 

Aug.  6.  Interest  15-34 

Oct.  6.  Cash,  75c  75 

$138.70 

The  second  family  consists  of  three  adults  and  three  children. 
They  have  three  one-roomed  cabins,  own  one  mule  and  two  cows, 
and  are  leasing  fifty  acres  of  land,  the  effort  to  buy  it  having 
proven  too  much.  Their  account  for  1900  and  1901  was  as 
follows : 

49 


IQOO.  1901. 

Balance  Jan,  i $  .50  Balance  Jan.  i $  4.15 

Cash  9.00  Cash 2.82 

Clothing 9.79    Clothing  7.55 

Feed 11.50    Feed  21.22 

Provisions 1348    Provisions 17.69 

Tobacco 80   Tobacco 55 

Tools,  etc 40    Tools,  etc 70 

Interest  and  recording  fee 5.77    Interest  and  fee  .  -. 7.90 


$52.24  $62.48 

The  debit  for  1900  was  all  paid  by  November  first  and  by  No- 
vember first,  1901,  $58.40  of  the  charge  for  that  year  had  been 
paid.  In  1900  the  man  paid  $94.61  towards  his  land  but  has 
since  been  leasing. 

The  third  family  consists  of  two  adults  and  three  children. 
They  live  in  a  board  cabin  of  two  rooms,  have  one  mule,  one 
cow  and  one  horse.  They  are.  purchasing  50  acres  of  land.  Their 
accounts  for  1900  and  1901  stand  between  the  two  already  given. 

1900.  1901. 

Balance  1859 $17.24    Balance  1900   $13-93 

Cash 23.20    Cash 21.28 

Clothing 4.73    Clothing 6.30 

Provisions 19.80    Feed  26.50 

Tools   4.40    Provisions 21.36 

Interest  and  fee  8.04    Tools   3.50 

Interest  and  fee 12.40 


$77.41  $109.28 

By  November  30,  1901,  they  had  paid  $79.13  of  their  account. 
In  1900  they  paid  $180  towards  their  land  and  $29.60  in  1901. 

All  of  these  families  are  a  little  above  the  average.  The  in- 
come is  supplemented  by  the  sale  of  chickens,  eggs  and  occa- 
sionally butter.  In  hard  years  when  the  crops  are  poor  the  men 
and  older  boys  seek  service  in  the  mines  of  North  Alabama  or  on 
the  railroads  during  the  summer  before  cotton  picking  begins, 
and  again  during  the  winter. 

The  outfit  of  the  average  farmer  is  very  inexpensive  and  is 
somewhat  as  follows : 

Harness,  $1.50;  pony  plow,  $3.00;  extra  point,  25c $4-75 

Sweepstock  (a) ,  75c ;  3  sweeps,  900 ;  scooter  (b) ,  loc 1.75 

2  hoes,  8oc ;  blacksmith  (yearly  average),  SOG   1.30 

Total  $7.80 

(a)  A  sweep  is  a  form  of  cultivator  used  in  cleaning  grass 
and  weeds  from  the  rows  of  cotton. 

(b)  A   scooter  or   "bull-tongue"   is   a  strip  of  iron   used   in 
opening  the  furrow  for  the  cotton  seed. 

A  cow  costs  $25,  pigs  $2  to  $2.50,  wagon  (seldom  owned) 
$45.  A  mule  now  costs  from  $100  to  $150,  but  may  be  rented 
by  the  year  for  $20  or  $25.  Owners  claim  there  is  no  profit  in 
letting  them  at  this  price  and  the  Negroes  assert  that  if  one 
dies  the  owner  often  claims  that  it  had  been  sold  and  proceeds 


to  collect  the  value  thereof.     From  either  point  of  view  the  plan 
seems  to  meet  with  but  little  favor. 

The  following  table  will  give  some  idea  of  the  condition  and 
personal  property  of  a  nurnber  of  families  in  Lowndes  County : 


- 

Adults 

Children 
under  14 

LogCabins 

B'd  Cabins 

w 

I 

& 
6 
z 

Sewing 
Machines 

tn 
_CU 

"3 

S 

Horses 

C 

(U 
X 

tn 

£ 

0 

0 

tn 

t£ 

£ 

en 

!? 

Family   i   .    .  .    . 

+n 

2  

2 

j 

j 

n 

o 

0 

o 

c 

0 

Q 

•3.  . 

0 

4.  . 

2 

tj  '. 

o 

6  

E 

i 

j 

o 

0 

Q 

•\ 

2 

o 

g 

Q 

n 

7.  . 

o 

i 

( 

J 

Q 

o 

n 

@ 

8. 

j 

-j 

j 

2 

0 

J 

Q 

Q 

o 

Q 

Q 

o 

Q 

o 

n 

J 

J 

o 

c 

IO    .  . 

j 

o 

i 

n 

o 

2 

o 

j 

10  

35 

16 

11 

8 

25 

I 

8 

6 

] 

14 

2 

;o 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  number  of  oxen  is  small.  I  should 
not  be  surprised  if  some  of  the  hogs  escaped  observation. 

An  account  of  this  district  would  not  be  complete  without  ref- 
erence to  the  herb  doctors  who  do  a  thriving  business,  charging 
from  twenty-five  cents  per  visit  up.  They  make  all  sorts  of 
noxious  compounds  which  are  retailed  as  good  for  various  ail- 
ments. The  medicines  are  perhaps  no  more  harmful  than  the 
patent  compounds  of  other  places.  There  are  also  witch  doctors, 
of  whom  the  Negroes  stand  in  great  awe  and  many  a  poor  suf- 
ferer has  died  because  it  was  believed  that  he  or  she  was  be- 
witched by  some  evil  person,  hence  physicians  could  have  no 
power. 

The  budgets  given  indicate,  and  this  is  my  own  belief,  that  the 
farmers  in  this  district  are  just  about  holding  their  own.  They 
are  not  trained  to  take  advantage  of  their  environment  to  the 
full  so  they  do  not  prosper  as  they  might,  while  occasional  de- 
signing persons  take  great  advantage  of  them,  thereby  rendering 
them  discouraged.  The  introduction  of  a  more  diversified  farm- 
ing, the  greater  utilization  of  local  resources  in  fruits  and  vege- 
tables, thereby  giving  variety  in  the  diet,  the  development  of  pas- 
tures and  stock  raising  would  enable  them  to  break  away  from 
the  mortgage  system,  which  retards  them  in  many  ways. 

This  view  that  the  farmers  here  are  about  able  to  make  a 
living  is  supported  by  the  investigations  of  Professor  Du  Bois.* 
He  gives  the  following  report  of  271  families  in  Georgia: 


t Rents  a  mule. 

^Bulletin,  Department  of  Labor,  No.  35. 


Year,  1898.     Price  of  cotton  low. 

Bankrupt  and  sold  out 3 

$100  or  over  in  debt 61 

$25  to  $100  in  debt 54 

$i  to  $25  in  debt 47 

Cleared  nothing  53 

Cleared  $i  to  $25  27 

Geared  $25  to  $100 21 

Cleared  $100  and  over .- 5 

271 

Regarding  the  general  situation  he  says :  "A  good  season 
with  good  prices  regularly  sent  a  number  out  of  debt  and  made 
them  peasant  proprietors ;  a  bad  season,  either  in  weather  or 
prices,  still  means  the  ruin  of  a  thousand  black- homes."  Under 
existing  conditions  the  outlook  does  not  seem  to  me  especially 
hopeful. 

ALLUVIAL  DISTRICT. 

The  Mississippi  river,  deflected  westward  by  the  hills  of 
Tennessee,  at  Memphis  sweeps  in  a  long  arc  to  the  hills  at 
Natchez.  The  oval  between  the  river  and  the  hills  to  the  East 


A  DOUBLE  CABIN  IN  THE  DELTA. 

is  known  as  the  "-Delta."  The  land  is  very  flat,  being  higher 
on  the  border  of  the  river  so  that  when  the  river  overflows  the 
entire  bottom  land  is  flooded.  The  waters  are  not  restrained  by  a 
good  system  of  levees  and  the  danger  of  floods  is  reduced.  There 
are  similar  areas  in  Arkansas  and  Louisiana  and  along  the  lower 
courses  of  the  Red  and  other  rivers,  but  what  is  said  here  will 

52 


have  special  reference  to  Mississippi  conditions.  The  land  is  ex- 
tremely fertile,  probably  there  is  none  better  in  the  world,  and 
is  covered  with  a  dense  growth  of  fine  woods,  oak,  ash,  gum  and 
cypress.  The  early  settlements,  as  already  stated,  were  along 
the  navigable  streams,  but  the  great  development  of  railroads  is 
opening  up  the  entire  district.  The  country  may  still  be  called 
new  and  thousands  of  acres  may  be  purchased  at  a  cost  of  less 
than  $10  per  acre,  wild  land,  of  course.  Cultivated  land  brings 
from  $25  up. 

Considering  its  possibilities  the  region  is  not  yet  densely  popu- 
lated, but  a  line  of  immigration  is  setting  in  and  the  indications 
are  that  the  Delta  will  soon  -be  the  seat  of  the  heaviest  Negro 
population  in  the  country.  Already  it  rivals  the  black  prairie 
of  Alabama.  There  have  been  many  influences  to  retard  immi- 
gration, the  fear  of  fevers,  malaria  and  typhoid,  commonly  asso- 
ciated with  low  countries,  and  the  dread  of  overflows.  Because 
of  the  lack  of  the  labor  force  to  develop  the  country  planters 
have  been  led  to  offer  higher  wages,  better  houses,  etc.  There  is 
about  the  farming  district  an  air  of  prosperity  which  is  not 
noticeable  to  the  East.  The  country  is  oarticularly  adapted  to 
cotton,  the  yield  is  heavier,  about  a  bale  to  the  acre  if  well 
cultivated,  though  the  average  is  a  little  less,  the  staple  is  longer, 
and  the  price  is  about  a  cent  a  pound  higher,  than  in  the  hills. 
Fertilizers  are  seldom  used  and  aie  not  carried  in  the  stores. 
Some  of  the  lands  which  have  been  longest  in  use  have  been 
harmed  by  improper  tillage,  but  the  injury  may  easily  be  re- 
paired by  intelligent  management. 

In  the  Delta  the  average  size  of  the  plantations  is  large,  but 
the  amount  of  land  under  the  care  of  the  tenant  is  smaller  than  ' 
in  other  sections.  About  20  acres  is  probably  the  average  to  one 
work  animal.  The  soil  is  heavier,  requiring  longer  and  more 
constant  cultivation.  For  this  land  a  rental  of  from  $6  to  $8  per 
acre  is  paid,  while  plantations  will  rent  for  a  term  of  years  at 
$5  an  acre.  A  good  deal  of  new  land  is  brought  in  cultivation  by 
offering  it  rent  free  to  a  Negro  for  three  years,  the  tenant 
agreeing  to  clear  off  the  timber  and  bring  the  soil  under  cultiva- 
tion. On  some  plantations  no  interest  is  charged  on  goods  ad- 
vanced by  the  Negro  usually  pays  25  per  cent,  for  all  money  he 
borrows.  The  white  planter  has  to  pay  at  least  8  per  cent  and 
agree  to  sell  his  cotton  through  the  factor  of  whom  the  money  is 
obtained  and  pay  him  a  commission  of  2.5  per  cent,  for  handling 
the  cotton. 

The  plantation  accounts  of  three  families  follow  for  the  year 
1901.  They  live  in  Washington  County,  Mississippi,  in  which 
the  Negroes  form  89  per  cent,  of  the  total  population. 

The  first  family  consists  of  three  adults  and  one  child  under 
14.  They  own  two  mules,  two  cows,  ten  pigs  and  some  chickens. 
They  also  have  a  wagon  and  the  necessary  farm  implements. 

53 


Their  expenses  were  enlarged,  as  were  those  of  the  other  fam- 
ilies, by  an  epidemic  of  smallpox. 

Debit.  Credit. 

Doctor .$39. 50          Cotton   $826.80 

Blacksmith    . . .  .     1.85          Cotton  seed   147.00 

Implements    15.05 

Clothes    102.55  $973-8o 

Provisions    42.10  856.95 

Rent  175-07 

Extra  labor 53-5°  Balance   . $116.85 

Seed   31.30 

Ginning  Cotton 61.30 

Cash  drawn  334-73 

$856.95 

Their  account  at  the  close  of  the  year  showed  thus  a  balance 
of  $116.85.  The  family  raised  2  bales  of  cotton  and  had  besides 
180  bushels  of  corn  from  six  acres. 

The  second  family  came  to  the  plantation  in  1900  with  noth- 
ing, not  even  with  decent  clothing.  Now  they  have  two  mules, 
keep  some  pigs,  own  a  wagon  and  farming  tools.  There  are 
five  adults  in  the  family  and  two  children.  They  live  in  a  three- 
roomed  cabin  and  till  30  acres  of  land,  four  acres  being  wood 
land  taken  for  clearing,  for  which  there  is  no  rent. 

Debit.  Credit. 

Doctor $    35.35         Cotton  $1,091.28 

Feed 5.00         Cotton  seed 196.00 

Mule   (balance)    77.00 

Rations  and  clothes. .     284.10  $1,287.28 

Rent 175-50  1,035.82 

Extra  labor  67.60 

Ginning 101.25  Balance   : $    251.46 

'        Cash  drawn 290.02 


$1,035.82 

The  third  family  is  of  different  type.  They  are  always  be- 
hind, although  the  wife  is  a  good  worker  and  the  man  is  willing 
and  seems  to  try.  They  are  considered  one  of  the  poorest  fam- 
ilies on  the  plantation.  There  are  two  adults  and  one  child. 
They  own  farming  implements,  one  mule  and  some  pigs.  They 
have  a  two-roomed  cabin  and  farm  18  acres  for  which  they 
pay  a  crop  rent  of  1,800  pounds  of  cotton. 

Debit.  Credit. 

Doctor $  24.45          Cotton   $498.57 

Mule   33-00          Cotton  seed  91.00 

Clothing    53-40 

Rations    60.00  $589.57 

Feed 11.25  576-55 

Rent 130.50 

Extra  labor  179-45  Balance   $  13.02 

Seed 11.90 

Ginning    43.50 

Cash  down 53-5O 

$576.55 

54 


An  examination  of  the  accounts  reveals  that  there  is  a  charge  , 
for  extra  labor,  which  for  the  third  family  was  very  heavy.  This 
results  from  the  fact  that  the  average  family  could,  but  does  not 
pick  all  the  cottpn  it  makes,  so  when  it  is  seen  that  enough  is 
on  hand  to  pay  all  the  bills  and  leave  a  balance  it  is  very  carer 
less  about  the  remainder.  Planters  have  great  difficulty  in  get- 
ting all  the  cotton  picked  and  a  considerable  portion  is  often  lost. 
Extra  labor  must  be  imported.  This  is  hard  to  get  and  forms, 
when  obtained,  a  serious  burden  on  the  income  of  the  tenant. 

On  the  plantation  from  whose  books  the  above  records  were 
taken  the  system  of  bookkeeping  is  more  than  usually  careful  and 
the  gin  account  thus  forms  a  separate  item  so  that  although  all 
planters  charge  for  the  ginning  the  charge  does  not  always  ap- 
pear on  the  books. 

These  three  families  are  believed  to  be  average  and  indicate 
what  it  is  possible  for  the  typical  family  to  do  under  ordinary 
conditions.  It  is  but  fair  to  state  that  the  owners  of  this  plan- 
tation make  many  efforts  to  get  their  tenants  to  improve  their 
condition  and  will  not  long  keep  those  whose  accounts  do  not 
show  a  credit  balance  at  the  end  of  the  year.  A  copy  of  the  lease 
in  use  will  be  of  interest  and  its  stipulations  -form  quite  a  contrast 
to  the  one  quoted  from  Alabama.  The  cash  and  share  leases  are 
identical  save  for  necessary  changes  in  form.  The  names  are 
fictitious. 

"This  Contract,  made  this  date  and  termina-ting  December  31,  1902,  be- 
tween Smith  and  Brown,  and  John  Doe,  hereinafter  called  tenant,  Wit- 
nesses :  That  Smith  and  Brown  have  this  day  rented  and  set  apart  to 
John  Doe  for  the  year  1902  certain  twenty  acres  of  land  on  James  Plan- 
tation, Washington  County,  Mississippi,  at  a  rental  price  per  acre  of  seven 
dollars  and  fifty  cents.  Smith  and  Brown  hereby  agree  to  furnish,  with 
said  land,  a  comfortable  house  and  good  pump,  and  to  grant  to  the  said 
tenant  the  free  use  of  such  wood  as  may  be  necessary  for  his  domestic 
purposes  and  to  advance  such  supplies,  in  such  quantity  and  manner  as 
may  be  mutually  agreed  upon  as  being  necessary  to  maintain  him  in  the 
cultivation  of  said  land ;  it  being  now  mutually  understood  that  by  the 
term  "supplies"  is  meant  meat,  meal,  molasses,  tobacco,  snuff,  medicine  and 
medical  attention,  good  working  shoes  and  clothes,  farming  implements  and 
corn.  It  is  also  hereby  mutually  agreed  and  understood  that  anything 
other  than  the  articles  herein  enumerated  is  to  be  advanced  to  the  said 
tenant  only  as  the  condition  of  his  crops  and  account  and  the  manner  of 
his  work  shall,  in  the  judgment  of  Smith  and  Brown,  be  deemed  to  entitle 
him.  They  also  agree  to  keep  said  house  and  pump  in  good  repair  and  to 
keep  said  land  well  ditched  and  drained. 

Being  desirous  of  having  said  tenant  raise  sufficient  corn  to  supply  his 
needs  during  the  ensuing  year,  in  consideration  of  his  planting  such  land 
in  corn  as  they  may  designate,  they  hereby  agree  to  purchase  from  said 
tenant  all  corn  over  and  above  such  as  may  be  necessary  ior  nis  needs,  and 
to  pay  therefor  the  market  price ;  and  to  purchase  all  corn  raised  by  him 
in  the  event  he  wishes  to  remove  from  James  plantation  at  the  termina- 
tion of  this  contract.  In  consideration  of  the  above  undertaking  on  Smith 
and  Brown's  part,  the  said  tenant  hereby  agrees  to  sell  to  them  all  surplus 
corn  raised  by  him  and  in  the  event  of  his  leaving  James'  plantation  at 
the  termination  of  this  contract  to  sell  to  them  all  corn  he  may  have  on 
hand :  in  each  case  at  the  market  price. 

The  said  Smith  and  Brown  hereby  reserve  to  themselves  all  liens  for 

55 


rent  and  supplies  on  all  cotton,  cotton  seed,  corn  and  other  agricultural 
products,  grown  upon  said  land  during  the  year  1902,  granted  under  Sec- 
tions 2495  and  2496  of  the  Code  of  1892.  They  hereby  agree  to  handle  and 
sell  for  the  said  tenant  all  cotton  and  other  crops  raised  by  him  for  sale,  to 
the  best  of  their  ability;  and  to  account  to  him  for  the  proceeds  of  the 
same  when  sold.  They  also  reserve  to  themselves  the  right  to  at  all  times 
exercise  such  supervision  as  they  may  deem  necessary  over  the  planting  and 
cultivating  of  all  crops  to  be  raised  by  him.  during  the  year  1902. 

The  said  John  Doe  hereby  rents  from  Smith  and  Brown  the  above 
mentioned  land  for  the  year  1902  and  promises  to  pay  therefor  seven  dol- 
lars and  a  half  per  acre  on  or  before  November  the  first,  1902,  and  hereby 
agrees  to  all  the  terms  and  stipulations  herein  mentioned. 

He  furthermore  represents  to  Smith  and  Brown  that  he  has  sufficient 
force  to  properly  plant  and  cultivate  same,  and  agrees  that  if  at  any  time 
in  their  judgment  his  crops  may  be  in  need  of  cultivation,  they  may  have 
the  necessary  work  done  and  charge  same  to  his  account. 

He  furthermore  agrees  to  at  all  times  properly  control  his  family  and 
hands,  both  as  to  work  and  conduct,  and  obligates  himself  to  prevent  any 
one  of  them  from  causing  any  trouble  whatsoever,  either  to  his  neighbors 
or  to  Smith  and  Brown. 

He  also  agrees  to  plant  and  cultivate  all  land  allotted  to  him,  including 
the  edges  of  the  roads,  turn  rows,  and  ditch  banks,  and  to  keep  the  latter 
at  all  times  clean  and  to  plant  no  garden  or  truck  patches  in  his  field. 

He  also  agrees  to  gather  and  deliver  all  agricultural  products  which  he 
may  raise  for  sale  to  said  Smith  and  Brown,  as  they  may  designate  to  be 
handled  and  sold  by  them,  for  his  account. 

He  also  agrees  not  to  abandon,  neglect,  turn  back  or  leave  his  crops 
or  any  part  of  them,  nor  to  allow  his  family  or  hands  to  do  so,  until 
entirely  gathered  and  delivered. 

In  order  that  Smith  and  Brown  may  be  advised  of  the  number  of 
tenants  which  they  may  have  to  secure  for  the  ensuing  year,  in  ample 
time  to  enable  them  to  provide  for  the  same,  the  said  tenant  hereby  agrees 
to  notify  them  positively  by  December  10,  1902,  whether  or  not  he  desires 
to  remain  on  James'  Plantation  for  the  ensuing  year.  Should  he  not  desire 
to  remain,  then  he  agrees  to  deliver  to  Smith  and  Brown  possession  of  the 
house  now  allotted  to  him  by  January  ist,  1903.  In  order  that  said  tenant 
may  .have  ample  time  in  which  to  provide  for  himself  a  place  for  the  ensu- 
ing Jrear,  Smith  and  Brown  hereby  agree  to  notify  him  by  December  10, 
1902,  should  they  not  want  him  as  a  tenant  during  the  ensuing  year. 
Witness  our  signatures,  this  the  I5th  day  of  December,  1901. 

SMITH  AND  BROWN. 
JOHN  DOE. 
Witness:    J.  W.  JAMES. 

The  owners  have  been  unable  to  carry  out  their  efforts  in  full, 
but  the  result  has  been  very  creditable.  The  lease  is  much  prefer- 
able to  the  one  given  on  page  46. 

If,  as  I  believe,  the  families  above  reported  are  average  and 
are  living  under  ordinary  conditions,  it  seems  evident  that  a 
considerable  surplus  results  from  their  labors  each  year.  I  wish 
I  could  add  that  the  money  were  being  either  wisely  spent  or 
saved  and  invested.  This  does  not  seem  to  be  the  case  and  it  is 
generally  stated  that  the  amount  of  money  wasted  in  the  fall  of 
the  year  by  the  blacks  of  the  Delta  is  enormous.  In  the  cabins 
the  great  catalogs  of  the  mail  order  houses  of  Montgomery 
Ward  &  Co.,  and  Sears,  Roebuck  &  Co.,  of  Chicago  are  often 
found,  and  the  express  agents  say  that  large  shipments  of  goods 
are  made  to^the  Negroes.  Patent  medicines  form  no  inconsider- 
able proportion  of  these  purchases,  while  "Stutson"  hats,  as  the 

56 


Negro  says,  are  required  by  the  young  bloods.  The  general 
improvidence  of  the  people  is  well  illustrated  by  the  following 
story  related  by  a  friend  of  the  writer.  At  the  close  of  one  sea- 
son an  old  Negro  woman  came  to  his  wife  for  advice  as  to  the 
use  to  be  made  of  her  savings,  some  $125.  She  was  advised  to 
buy  some  household  necessities  and  to  put  the  remainder  in  a 
bank,  above  all  she  was  cautioned  to  beware  of  any  who  sought 
to  get  her  to  squander  the  money.  The  woman  left  but  in  about 
two  wreeks'  time  returned  to  borrow  some  money.  It  developed 
that  as  she  went  down  the  street  a  Jewess  invited  her  to  come 
in  and  have  a  cup  of  coffee.  The  invitation  was  accepted  and 
during  the  conversation  she  was  advised  to  spend  the  money. 
This  she  did,  and  when  the  transactions  were  over  the  woman 
had  one  barrel  of  flour,  one  hundred  pounds  of  meat,  ten  dollars 
or  so  worth  of  cheap  jewelry,  some  candy  and  other  incidentals 
and  no  money.  Foolish  expenditures  alone,  according  to  the 
belief  of  the  planters,  prevent  the  Negroes  from  owning  the  entire 
land  in  a  generation.  I  would  not  give  the  impression  that 
there  are  no  Negro  land  owners  in  this  region.  Thousands  of 
acres  have  been  purchased  and  are  held  by  them,  but  we  are 
speaking  of  average  families. 

Some  curious  customs  prevail.  The  planters  generally  pay 
the  Negroes  in  cash  for  their  cotton  seed  and  this  money  the 
blacks  consider  as  spraining  peculiarly  theirs,  not  to  be  used 
for  any  debts  they  may  have.  Although  the  prices  for  goods  ad- 
vanced are  higher  than  cash  prices,  the  Negroes  will  often,  when 
spring  comes,  insist  that  they  be  advanced,  so  have  the  goods 
charged  even  at  the  higher  prices,  even  though  they  have  the 
cash  on  hand.  This  great  over-appreciation  of  present  goods 
is  a  drawback  to  their  progress. 

In  this  district  I  found  little  dissatisfaction  among  the  Negro 
farmers.  They  felt  that  their  opportunities  were  good.  Those 
who  come  from  the  hills  can  scarce  believe  their  eyes  at  the 
crops  produced  and  constantly  ask  when  the  cotton  plants  are 
going  to  turn  vellow  and  droop.  That  there  is  little  migration 
back  to  the  hills  is  good  evidence  of  the  relative  standing  of 
the  two  districts  in  their  eyes. 

Wages   for   day   labor   range   from   60   to   75   cents,   but   the 
extra  labor  imported  for  cotton  picking  makes  over  double  this. 

THE  SUGAR  REGION. 

South  of  Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana,  the  alluvial  district  is 
largely  given  over  to  the  growing  of  sugar  cane  with  occasional 
fields  of  rice.  The  district  under  cultivation  stretches  back  from 
the  river  a  couple  of  miles  or  so  to  the  edge  of  the  woods 
beyond  which  at  present  there  is  no  tillable  ground,  though 
drainage  will  gradually  push  back  the  line  of  the  forest.  These 
sugar  lands  are  valued  highly,  $100  or  so  an  acre,  and  the  cap- 
ital invested  in  the  great  sugar  houses  is  enormous.  Probably 

57 


nowhere  in  agricultural  pursuits  is  there  a  more  thorough  system 
of  bookkeeping  than  on  these  plantations.  This  land  is  culti- 
vated by  hired  hands,  who  work  immediately  under  the  eye  of 
overseers.  Nowhere  is  the  land  let  out  in  small  lots  to  tenants. 
Conditions  are  radically  different  from  those  prevailing  in  the 
cotton  regions.  The  work  season,  it  is  claimed,  begins  on  the 
first  day  of  January  and  ends  on  the  3ist  of  December,  and 
every  day  between  when  the  weather  permits  work  in  the  fields 
there  is  work  to  be  done. 


CABINS  ON   SUGAR  PLANTATION. 

These  plantations  present  an  attractive  appearance.  The 
cabins  are  not  scattered  as  in  the  cotton  country,  but  are  usually 
ranged  on  either  side  of  a  broad  street,  with  rows  of  trees  in 
front.  The  cabins  are  often  for  two  families  and  each  has  a  plot 
of  ground  for  a  garden.  The  planters  say  the  Negroes  will  not 
live  in  the  houses  unless  the  garden  plots  are  provided,  even  if 
they  make  no  use  of  them.  To  each  family  is  allotted  a  house 
so  long  as  they  are  employed  on  the  place.  Wood  is  free  and 
teams  are  provided  for  hauling  it  from  the  forest.  Free  pasture 
for  stock  is  often  provided. 

From  the  fact  that  the  men  would  seldom  work  more  than 
five  and  a  half  days  a  week  arose  the  custom  of  paying  dff 
every  eleven  days.  Each  workman  has  a  time  book  and  as  soon 
as  he  has  completed  his  eleven  days  his  pay  is  due.  This  avoids 
a  general  pav  day  ^nd  the  demoralization  that  would  likely  fol- 
low. Work  is  credited  by  quarters  of  a  day :  Sunrise  to  break- 
fast, breakfast  to  dinner,  dinner  to  about  3:00  p.  m.,  3:00  p.  m. 
to  sunset.  Waees  vary  according  to  the  season,  beinq"  much 
larger  during  autumn  when  the  cane  is  being  ground.  For  field 
work  men  get  70  cents  per  day,  women  55  to  60  cents.  During 
the  grinding  season  the  men  earn  from  $i  to  $1.25,  the  women 
about  85  cents,  children  from  25  cents  up.  Wages  are  usually 
paid  through  a  store  which  may  or  may  not  be  under  the  direct 
ownership  of  the  plantation.  All  accounts  against  the  store 

58 


are  deducted,  but  the  balance  must  be  paid  in  cash  if  it  is  so  de- 
sired. Nominally  the  men  are  free  to  trade  where  they  will, 
but  it  is  easy  to  see  that  pressure  might  be  brought  to  bear  to 
make  it  advantageous  to  trade  at  the  local  store. 

During  the  year  1901  two  families  were  able  to  earn  the  fol- 
lowing amounts.  The  first  family  consists  of  three  adults  and 
two  children,  but  the  wife  did  not  work  in  the  field. 

$10.50  7.00  13.80  12.60  10.85  12.60  11.55  8.40  9.80  20.60  25.75  28.75        Man 

10.85  6.65  13.80  12.95  15-40  14-50  11.20  7.35  9.80    7.95  16.00  10.15         Son 

2.62  1.25  2.25    4.35  3.05  1.20    6.40  18.15  15.75         Boy 

1.85  10.12    6.75          Boy 

$23.97  14-90  27.60' 25.55  26.25  29.35  27.10, 18.80  20.80  36.80  70.02  61.40— $382.54 

During  the  grinding  season  the  men's  wages  were  increased 
to  $i  a  day  and  the  boys'  to  40  cents  and  the  father  had  chances 
to  make  extra  time  as  nightwatchman,  etc.  This  family  own  a 
horse  and  buggy,  keep  poultry  and  have  a  fair  garden.  They 
are  rather  thrifty  and  have  money  stowed  away  somewhere. 

The  second  family  consists  of  the  parents  and  eight  children. 
Their  income  is  fair,  but  they  are  always  "hard  up."  They 
spend  their  money  extravagantly.  The  man  is  head  teamster  on 
the  plantation  and  makes  80  cents  per  day,  which  is  increased  to 
$1.30  during  the  grinding  season.  The  wife  in  this  family  also 
did  no  work  save  in  the  fall. 

$16.00  14.40  17.60  15.40  18.40  16.80  17.80  18.00  16.60  23.30  44.95  43.05  Man 

7.87   6.8510.10   9.25   9.6510.1011.0010.25    4.00   6.0019.3018.00  Boy 

12.60   8.75  12.60  13.30  15.55  14-50  11.90  12.40  11.70  19,25  25.75  23.00  Son 

2.90    1.50    4.50                                                             6.75  17.25  14.75  Girl 

1.25    1.80      .65                                                                              1.60  Boy 

2.10   8.00   5.25  Boy 

3.00  15.15  13-50  Woman 

$40.62  33.30  45.45  37.95  43.60  41.40  40.70  40.65  32.3060.40130.30119.15—665.82 

These  families  are  typical  so  far  as  known.  In  comparing 
their  incomes  with  those  in  other  districts  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  they  have  no  rent  to  pay  and  their  only  necessary 
expenses  are  for  food  and  clothes  and  incidentals.  Certainly 
both  of  the  families  should  have  money  to  their  credit  at  the 
end  of  the  year.  The  total  wages  depends  not  only  on  the 
willingness  to  work,  but  also  on  weather  conditions.  One  gets 
the  impression  that  in  some  places  conditions  are  pretty  bad 
and  even  by  some  white  residents  of  the  state  it  is  claimed  that 
a  state  of  servitude  almost  prevails  on  many  plantations.  In 
any  case  the  Negroes  do  not  seem  satisfied.  The  labor  is  rather 
heavy.  For  this  or  other  reasons  there  has  been  quite  an  exodus 
to  the  cotton  country  in  recent  years,  which  has  caused  the  cane 
planters  much  trouble  and  they  will  make  many  concessions  to 
keep  their  tenants.  To  meet  this  emigration  for  some  time 
efforts  have  been  made  to  import  Italian  labor  but  the  results 
have  not  been  wholly  satisfactory.  The  Italians  are  more  re- 
liable and  this  is  a  great  argument  in  their  favor,  but  with  this 


exception  they  are  not  considered  much  better  workers  than  the 
blacks.  The  storekeepers  much  prefer  the  Negroes,  who  spend 
their  money  more  freely. 

The  planters  claim  that  the  labor  is  unreliable  and  say  they 
never  know  on  Saturday  how  many  workers  they  will  have  on 
Monday.  They  also  say  it  is  hard  to  get  extra  labor  done.  In 
1900  on  one  plantation  the  women  were  offered  ten  cents  a  day 
extra  for  some  hoeing,  but  only  four  held  out.  Higher  wages 
were  offered  if  some  cane  were  cut  by  the  ton  instead  of  by  the 
day,  but  after  a  week  the  hands  asked  to  return  to  the  gang  at 
the  lower  wage. 

In  the  rice  fields  along  the  river  about  the  same  wages  pre- 
vail as  for  the  field  hands  in  the  cane  plantations.  The  rice  crop, 
however,  is  but  a  six  months  crop,  so  other  employment  must  be 
found  for  part  of  the  year  if  nothing  but  rice  is  raised.  It  is 
usual  in  this  region  to  raise  rice  as  a  side  crop. 


CHAPTER  V.     SOCIAL  ENVIRONMENT. 

Hitherto  we  have  had  to  do  chiefly  with  the  economic  sit- 
uation of  the  Negro  farmer.  There  is,  however,  another  set 
of  forces  which  may  not  be  ignored  if  we  are  to  understand  the 
situation  which  confronts  us.  These  are,  of  course,  the  social 
forces.  In  discussing  these  it  is  more  than  ever  essential  to  re- 
member that  a  differentiation  has  been  taking  place  among  the 


COUNTRY  CHURCH   AND   SCHOOL. 

Negroes  and  that  there  are  large  numbers  who  are  not  to  be 
grouped  with  the  average  men  and  w^men  whom  we  seek  to 
describe.  It  may  even  be  true  that  there  are  communities  which 
have  gained  a  higher  level.  Any  statement  of  the  social  en- 
vironment of  8,000,000  people  must  necessarily  be  false  if  applied 
strictly  to  each  individual.  The  existence  of  the  higher  class 
must  not,  however,  be  allowed  to  blind  us  to  the  condition  of 
the  rest. 

The  average  Negro  boy  or  girl  is  allowed  to  grow.     It  is 


6t 


difficult  to  say  much  more  for  the  training  received  at  home. 
We  must  remember  that  there  is  an  almost  total  absence  of  home 
life  as  we  understand  it.  The  family  seldom  sits  down  together 
at  the  table  or  do  anything  else  in  common.  The  domestic  duties 
are  easily  mastered  by  the  girls  and  chores  do  not  weigh  heavily 
on  the  boys.  At  certain  periods  of  the  year  the  children  are 
compelled  to  assist  in  the  farm  operations,  such  as  picking  cotton, 
but  most  of  the  time  they  are  care  free.  Thus  they  run  almost 
wild  while  the  parents  are  at  work  in  the  fields,  and  the  stranger 
who  suddenly  approaches  a  cabin  and  beholds  the  youngsters 
scattering  for  shelter  will  not  soon  forget  the  sight.  Obedience, 
neatness,  punctuality  do  not  thrive  in  such  an  atmosphere.  The 
introduction  to  the  country  school  a  little  later  does  not  greatly 
improve  conditions.  The  teachers  are  often  incompetent  and 
their  election  often  depends  upon  other  things  than  fitness  to 
teach ;  upon  things,  indeed,  which  are  at  times  far  from  compli- 
mentary to  the  school  trustees.  The  school  year  seldom  exceeds 
four  months  and  this  may  be  divided  into  two  terms,  two  months 
in  the  fall  and  Uvo  in  the  spring.  School  opens  at  an  indefinite 
time  in  the  morning,  if  scheduled  for  nine  it  is  just  as  likely  as 
not  that  it  begins  at  ten  thirty,  while  the  closing  hour  is  equally 
uncertain.  The  individual  attention  received  by  the  average  child 
is  necessarily  small.  The  schools  are  poorly  equipped  with  books 
or  maps.  The  interior  view  given  on  page  61  is  by  no  means 
exceptional. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  mention  the  fact  that  recognition 
of  these  evils  is  leading  in  many  places  in  the  South  to  the 
incorporation  of  private  schools,  which  then  offer  their  facilities 
to  the  public  in  return  for  partial  support  at  the  public  expense. 
Public  moneys  are  being  turned  over  to  these  schools  in  consid- 
erable amounts.  In  some  counties  the  public  does  not  own  a 
school  building.  Without  questioning  the  fact  that  these  schools 
are  an  improvement  over  existing  conditions,  history  will  belie 
itself  if  this  subsidizing  of  private  organizations  does  not  some 
dav  prove  a  great  drawback  to  the  proper  development  of  the 
public  school  system,  unless  it  may  be,  that  the  courts  will  declare 
the  practice  illegal  and  unconstitutional. 

The  home  and  the  school  being  from  our  point  of  view  un- 
satisfactory, the  next  social  institution  to  which  we  turn  is  the 
church.  Since  the  war  this  has  come  to  be  the  most  influential 
in  the  opinion  of  the  Negro  and  it  deserves  more  careful  study 
than  has  yet  been  given  to  it.  Only  some  of  the  more  obvious 
features  can  here  be  considered.  The  first  thing  to  impress  the 
observer  is  the  fact  that  time  is  again  no  object  to  the  Negro. 
The  service  advertised  for  eleven  may  get  fairly  under  way  by 
twelve  and  there  is  no  predicting  when  it  will  stop.  The  people 
drift  in  and  out,  one  or  two  at  a  time,  throughout  the  service. 
Families  do  not  enter  nor  sit  together.  Outside  is  always  a  group 
talking  over  matters  of  general  interest.  The  music,  lined  out, 


consists    of    the    regulation    church    hymns,    which    are    usually 
screeched  all  out  of  time  in  a  high  key.     The  contrast  between 
this  music  and  the  singing  of  the  plantation  songs  at  Hampton 
or  some  other  schools  which  impresses  one  as  does  little  music 
he  hears  elsewhere  is  striking.     The  people  have  the  idea  that 
plantation  songs  are  out  of  place  in  the  church.     The  collection 
is  taken  with  a  view  to  letting  others  know  what  each  one  does. 
At  the  proper  time  a  couple  of  the  men  take  their  places  at  a 
table  before  the  pulpit  and  invite  the  people  to  come   forward 
with  their  offerings.     The  people  straggle  up  the  aisle  with  their 
gifts,  being  constantly  urged  to  hasten  so  as  not  to  delay  the 
service.      After   half    an   hour,  or    so   the   results   obtained    are 
remarkable  and  the  social  emulation  redounds  to  the  benefit  of 
the  preacher.     It  is  difficult  for  the  white  visitor  to  get  anything 
but  hints  of  the  real  possibilities  of  the  preacher,   for  he  is  at 
once   introduced   to  the   audience  and  induced  to  address  them 
if  it  is  possible.    Even  when  this  is  not  done  there  is  usually  an  air 
of    restraint    which    is    noticeable.      Only    occasionally    does    the 
speaker  forget  himself  and  break  loose,  as  it  were.     The  study 
then  presented  is  interesting  in  the  extreme.     While  the  minister 
shouts,  the  audience  are  swaying  backward  and  forward  in  sym- 
pathetic rhythm,  encouraging  the  speaker  with  cries  of  "Amen", 
"That's  right",  "That's  the  Gospel",  "Give  it  to  'em  bud",  "Give 
'em  a  little  long  sweetening"  .   There  is  no  question  that  they 
are    profoundly    imoved,    but    the    identity    of   the    spirit    which 
troubles  the  waters  is  to  me  sometimes  a  question.    The  forms  of 
the  white  man's  religion  have  been  adopted,  but  the  content  of 
these   forms   seems   strangely   different.      Seemingly   the   church, 
or  rather,  religion,  is  not  closely  identified  with  morality.     I  am 
sorry  to  say  that  in  the  opinion  of  the  best  of  both  races  the 
average  country   (and  city)    pastor  does  not  bear  a  good  repu- 
tation, the  estimates  of  the  immoral  running  from  50  to  98  per 
cent,  of  the  total  number.     It  is  far  from  me  to  discount  any  class 
of  people,  but  if  the  situation  is  anything  as  represented  by  the 
estimate,  the  seriousness  of  it  is  evident.     This  idea  is  supported 
by  the   fact  that   indulgence   in   immorality  is   seldom   a   bar  to 
active  church  membership,  and  if  a  member  be  dismissed  from 
one  communion  there  are  others  anxious  to  receive  him  or  her. 
There  are  churches  and  communities  of  which  these  statements 
are  not  true.     It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  churches  are  se- 
curing their  chief  support  from  the  women.     As  an  organization 
the  church  does  not  seem  to  have  taken  any  great  interest  in  the 
matters  which  most  vitsllv  affect  the  life  of  the  people,  except  to 
be  a  social  center.     If  these  things  be  considered  it  is  easy  to  see 
why  the  best  informed  are  seeking  for  the  country  districts  men 
who  can  be  leaders  of  the  people  during  the  week  on  the  farms 
as  well  as  good  speakers  on  Sunday.     It  is  a  pleasure  to  note 
that  here  and  there  some  busy  pastor  is  also  spending  a  good 
deal  of  his  time  cultivating  a  garden,  or  running  a  small  farm. 


with  the  distinct  purpose  of  setting  a  good  example.  The  precise 
way  in  which  the  church  may  be  led  to  exert  a  wider  and  more 
helpful  influence  on  the  people  is  a  matter  of  great  importance, 
but  it  must  be  solved  from  within. 

Turning  from  religious  work  we  find  the  church  bearing  an 
important  place  in  the  social  life  and  amusements.  Besides  its 
many  gatherings  and  protracted  meetings  which  are  social  func- 
tions, numbers  of  picnics  and  excursions  are  given.  These  may 
be  on  the  railroads  to  rather  distant  points,  and  because  of  the 
lack  of  discrimination  as  to  participants,  many  earnest  protests 
have  been  filed  by  the  better  class  of  Negroes.  The  amusements 
of  the  blacks  are  simple.  Nearly  all  drink,  but  drunkenness  is 
not  a  great  vice.  Dances  are  in  high  esteem,  and  are  often  ac- 
companied by  much  drinking  and  not  infrequently  by  cutting 
scrapes,  for  the  Negro's  passions  lie  on  the  surface  and  are  easily 
aroused.  In  South  Carolina  the  general  belief  seems  to  be  that 
the  dispensary  law  has  been  beneficial.  There  is  also  a  universal 
fondness  for  tobacco  in  all  its  forms.  Gambling  prevails  wherever 
there  is  ready  money  and  not  infrequently  leads  to  serious  as- 
saults. Music  has  great  charms  while  a  circus  needs  not  the 
excuse  of  children  to  justify  it  in  the  Negro's  eyes.  Some  of  the 
holidays  are  celebrated,  and  when  on  the  coast  the  blacks  dubbed 
the  3Oth  of  May  "Desecration  Day,"  there  were  those  who  thought 
it  well  named.  Active  sports,  with  the  occasional  exception  of  a 
ball  game,  are  not  preferred  to  the  more  quiet  pleasure  of  sitting 
about  in  the  sunshine  conversing  with  friends.  America  can  not 
show  a  happier,  more  contented  lot  of  people  than  these  same 
blacks. 

If  we  turn  our  attention  to  other  characteristics  of  the  Negro 
we  must  notice  his  different  moral  standard.  To  introduce  the 
little  I  shall  say  on  this  point  let  me  quote  from  a  well  known 
anthropologist.  "There  is  nothing  more  difficult  for  us  to  realize, 
civilized  as  we  are,  than  the  mental  state  of  the  man  far  behind 
us  in  cultivation,  as  regards  what  we  call  par  excellence  'moral- 
ity.' It  is  not  indecency;  it  is  simply  an  animal  absence  of 
modesty.  Acts  which  are  undeniably  quite  natural,  since  they 
are  the  expression  of  a  primordial  need,  essential  to  the  duration 
of  the  species,  but  which  a  long  ancestral  and  individual  educa- 
tion has  trained  us  to  subject  to  a  rigorous  restraint,  and  to  the 
accomplishment  of  which,  consequently,  we  can  not  help  attach- 
ing a  certain  shame,  do  not  in  the  least  shock  the  still  imperfect 
conscience  of  the  primitive  man."  From  somewhat  this  stand- 
point we  must  indee  of  the  Negro.  Two  or  three  illustrations 
will  suffice.  Talking  last  summer  to  a  porter  in  a  small  hotel, 
I  asked  him  if  he  had  ever  lived  on  a  farm.  He  replied  that 
he  had  and  that  he  often  thought  of  returning.  Askine  him 
why  he  did  not  he  said  that  it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to 
get  a  wife  and  a  lot  of  other  things.  I  suggested  the  possibility 
of  boarding  in  another  family.  He  shook  his  head  and  said : 

64 


''Niggers  is  queer  folks,  boss.  'Pears  to  me  they  don'  know 
what  they  gwine  do.  Ef  I  go  out  and  live  in  a  man's  house  like 
as  not  I  run  away  wid  dat  man's  wife."  The  second  illustration 
is  taken  from  an  unpublished  manuscript  by  Rev.  J.  L.  Tucker 
of  Baton  Rouge. 

There  is  a  negro  of  good  character  here  in  Baton  Rouge  whose  name 

is  —         He  is  a  whitewasher  by  trade  and  does  mainly  odd  jobs 

for  the  white  people  who  are  his  patrons,  and  earns  a  good  living.  He  is 
widely  known  through  the  city  as  a  good  and  reliable  man.  Some  time  ago 
he  had  trouble  with  his  wife's  preacher,  who  came  to  his  house  too  often. 
The  trouble  culminated  in  his  wife  leaving  him.  Soon  thereafter  he  sent 
or  went  into  the  country  and  brought  home  a  negro  woman  whom  he 
installed  in  his  house  to  cook  and  otherwise  serve  him.  Explaining  the 
circumstances  to  Mr.  —  — ,  he  said :  "I  a'in'  got  no  use  for  nigga  preach- 
ers. Dey  is  de  debbil  wid  de  winfmen.  I  tol'  dat  ar  fellah  to  keep  away 
fr'm  my  house  or  I'd  hunt  him  wid  a  shotgun,  an'  I  meant  it.  But  he  got 
her'n  spite  a  me.  She  went  off  to  'im.  Now  I's  got  me  a  wife  from  way 
back  in  de  country,  who  don'  know  the  ways  of  nigga  preachers.  I  kin 
keep  her,  I  reckon,  a  while,  anyway.  I  pays  her  wages  reg'lar,  an'  she 
does  her  duty  by  me.  I  tell  yeh,  Mr.  —  — ,  a  hired  wife's  a  heap  better's 
a  married  wife  any  time,  yeh  mark  dat.  Ef  yeh  don'  line  er  yer  can  sen' 
her  off  an'  get  anudder,  an'  she's  nutten  to  complain  'bout  a'  longs  yeh  pay 
her  wages.  Yes  siree,  yeh  put  dat  down;  de  hired  wife's  nuff  sight  bet- 
ter'n  de  married  one.  I  don'  fus  no  mo'  wid  marryin'  wives,  I  hires  'em. 
An  I  sent  word  to  dat  preacher  dat  if  he  comes  roun'  my  house  now  I  lays 
for  'im  shore  wid  buck  shot.' 

Commenting,  Mr.  Tucker  says  that  the  man  had  no  idea  of 
moral  wrong,  the  real  wife  has  lost  no  caste,  the  preacher  stands 
just  as  well  with  his  flock  and  the*"new  wife"  is  well  received. 
The  third  instance  occurred  on  a  plantation.  A  married  woman, 
not  satisfied  with  the  shoes  she  received  from  the  store,  wanted 
a  pair  of  yellow  turned  shoes.  The  planter  would  not  supply 
them.  The  woman  was  angry  and  finally  left  her  husband,  went 
to  a  neighboring  place  and  "took  up"  with  another  man. 

These  cases  sufficiently  illustrate  prevailing  conceptions  of  the 
sacredness  of  the  marriage  tie.  Certainly  this  involves  a  theory 
of  home  life  which  differs  from  ours.^  Many  matings  are  con- 
summated without  any  regular  marriage  ceremony  and  with  little 
reference  to  legal  requirements,  and  divorces  are  equally  in- 
formal. Moral  lapses  seldom  bring  the  Negro  before  the  courts. 
All  these  things  but  indicate  the  handicap  which  has  to  be  over- 
come. Within  the  family  there  is  often  great  abuse  on  the 
part  of  the  men.  The  result  of  it  all  is  that  many  Negroes  do 
not  know  their  own  fathers  and  so  little  are  the  ties  of  kinship  re- 
garded that  near  relatives  are  often  unknown,  and  if  possible  less 
cared  for.  This  may  be  substantiated  by  the  records  of  any 
charity  society  in  the  North  which  has  sought  to  trace  friends 
of  its  Negro  applicants.  To  attempt  a  quantitative  estimate  of 
the  extent  of  sexual  immorality  is  useless.  It  is  sufficient  to 
realize  that  a  different  standard  prevails  and  one  result  today  is  a 
frightful  prevalence  of  venereal  diseases  to  which  any  practising 
physician  in  the  South  can  bear  witness.  I  am  g^lad  to  say  there 
are  sections  which  have  risen  above  these  conditions. 


The  transition  from  slavery  to  freedom  set  in  operation  the 
forces  of  natural  selection,  which  are  sure  and  steadily  working 
among  the  people  and  are  weeding  out  those  who  for  any  reason 
can  not  adapt  themselves  to  the  new  environment.  Insanity,  al- 
most unknown  in  slavery  times,  has  appeared  and  has  been  in- 
creasing among  the  Negroes  of  the  South  at  a  rate  of  about  100 
per  cent,  a  decade  since  1860.  Of  course,  the  number  affected  is 
still  small,  but  the  end  is  perhaps  not  reached.  We  have  wit- 
nessed also  the  development  of  the  pauper  and  criminal  classes. 
This  was  to  be  expected.  There  is  also  some  evidence  of  an  in- 
crease in  the  use  of  drugs,  cocaine  and  the  like.  The  point  to  be 
noted  is  that  there  is  taking  place  a  steady  division  of  the  Ne- 
groes into  various  social  strata  and  in  spite  of  race  traits  it  is  no 
longer  to  be  considered  as  on  a  level. 

I  have  sought  to  represent  the  situation  as  it  appears  to  me, 
neither  seeding  to  overemphasize  the  virtues  or  the  vices  of  the 
race.  It  is  clear  to  me  that  in  spite  of  the  obvious  progress  the 
road  ahead  is  long  and  hard.  While  I  do  not  anticipate  any 
such  acceleration  of  speed  as  will  immediately  bring  about  an 
economic  or  social  millenium  I  believe  that  proper  measures  may 
be  found,  indeed,  are  already  in  use,  which  if  widely  adopted 
will  lead  to  .better  things.  How  many  of  the  race  will  fall  by 
the  way  is,  in  one  sense,  a  matter  of  indifference.  In  the  long 
run,  for  the  whites  as  well  as  the  blacks,  they  will  survive  who 
•  adapt  their  social  theories  and,  consequently,  their  modes  of  life 
to  their  environments. 


CHAPTER -VI.     THE  OUTLOOK. 

"One  of  the  things  which  militates  most  against  the  Negro 
here  is  his  unreliability.  *  *  *  His  mental  processes  are  past 
finding  out  and  he  can  not  fre  counted  on  to  do  or  not  to  do  a 
given  thing  under  given  circumstances.  There  is  scarcely  a 
planter  in  all  this  territory  who  would  not  make  substantial  con- 
cessions for  an  assured  tenantry."  A  Northern  man,  now  resi- 
dent in  the  South  and  employing  Negro  labor,  says :  "I  am'  con- 
vinced of  one  thing  and  that  is  that  there  is  no  dependence  to 
be  placed  in  90  per  cent,  of  the  Negro  laborers  if  left  to  them- 
selves and  out  of  the  overseer's  sight."  These  quotations  from 
men  who  are  seeking  to  promote  the  success  of  the  Negroes 
with  whom  they  come  in  contact  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely 
from  every  part  of  the  South.  The  statements  are  scarce  open 
to  discussion,  so  well  recognized  is  the  fact.  If  I  have  rightly 
apprehended  the  nature  of  the  training  afforded  by  Africa  and 
slavery  there  was  little  in  them  to  develop  the  habits  of  fore- 
thought, thrift  and  industry,  upon  which  this  reliability  must 
be  based. 

I  am  not  arguing  the  question  as  to  whether  this  unreliability 
marks  a  decadence  of  Negro  standards  or  whether  it  is  due  to 
the  present  higher  standards  of  the  white.  For  argument,  at 
least,  I  am  willing  to  admit  that  in  quality  of  workmanship,  in 
steadfastness  and  self-control  there  has  really  been  great  progress. 
My  interest  is  in  the  present  and  future  rather  than  the  past. 
I  have  tried  to  show  that,  judged  by  present  standards,  the  Negro 
is  still  decidedly  lacking.  Personally  I  am  not  surprised  at  this. 
I  should  be  astonished  if  it  were  otherwise.  The  trouble  is  that 
we  at  the  North  are  unable  t6  disabuse  ourselves  of  the  idea 
that  the  Negro  is  a  dark  skinned  Yankee  and  we  think,  there- 
fore, that  if  all  is  not  as  it  should  be  that  something  is  wrong, 
that  somebody  or  some  social  condition  is  holding  him  back.  We 
accuse  slavery,  attribute  it  to  the  hostility  of  the  Southern  white. 
Something  is  holding  him  back,  but  it  is  his  inheritance  of  thou- 
sands of  years  in  Africa,  not  slavery  nor  the  Southern  whites.  It 
is  my  observation  that  the  white  of  the  black  belt  deal  with  the 
Negro  more  patiently  and  endure  far  more  of  shiftless  methods 
than  the  average  Northerner  would  tolerate  for  a  day.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  Northern  white  women  who  go  South 
filled  with  the  idea  that  the  Negro  is  abused  can  scarce  keep  a 

67 


servant  the  first  year  or  so  of  their  stay.  Of  course  there  are  ex- 
ceptions, few  in  number,  who  say  as  did  a  lumberman  in  Ala- 
bama last  summer:  "I  never  have  any  trouble  with  the  Negro. 
Have  worked  them  for  twenty  years.  Why,  I  haven't  had  to 
kill  one  yet,  though  I  did  shoot  one  once,  but  I  used  fine  shot 
and  it  didn't  hurt  him  much."  We  have  attempted  to  have  the 
Negro  do  in  a  few  years  what  it  has  taken  us  thousands  to  ac- 
complish, and  are  surprised  that  he  has  disappointed  us.  There 
is  no  room  for  discouragement.  Contrast  the  Negro  in  Afric.1 
and  America  to  see  what  has  been  done. 

Unless  this  unreliability  is  overcome  it  will  form  even  a 
greater  handicap  for  the  future.  Southern  methods  of  agricul- 
ture have  been  more  wasteful  of  small  economies  than  have 
Northern.  That  a  change  is  imperative,  in  many  districts  at 
least,  has  been  shown.  Is  the  Negro  in  a  position  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  these  changes?  At  present  it  must  be  admitted  that 
he  does  not  possess  the  knowledge  to  enable  him  to  utilize  his 
environment  and  make  the  most  out  of  it.  It  has  been  shown 
that  he  is  bearing  little  part  in  the  development  of  the  trucking 
industry,  nay  more,  that  he  does  not  even  raise  enough  garden 
truck  for  his  own  support.  In  a  bulletin  of  the  Farmer's  Im- 
provement Society  of  Texas  I  find  the  following: 

Very  many,  in  the  first  place,  do  net  try  to  make  their  supplies  at 
home.  .Very  often  much  is  lost  by  bad  fences.  Lots  of  them  don't  know 
'where  their  hoes,  plows,  single-trees,  etc.,  are  at  this  minute.  Lots  of  them 
buy  butter,  peas,  beans,  lard,  meat  and  hay.  *  *  *  Well,  really,  to  sum 
up,  if  there's  anything  like  scientific  methods  among  the  vast  majority  of 
our  people  I  don't  know  it.  *  *  *  I  venture  to  say  that  not  one  negro 
farmer  in  a  hundred  ever  saw  the  back  of  one  of  these  bulletins  (agricul- 
tural), much  less  the  inside. 

If  some  of  these  primary  lessons  have  not  been  mastered 
what  chance  is  there  that  the  Negro  will  overcome,  unaided,  the 
crop  lien  system  and  his  other  handicaps  and  introduce  diversified 
agriculture,  stock  raising,  etc.?  Slavery  taught  him  something 
about  work  and  he  is  willing  to  work,  and  work  hard,  under 
leadership.  Herein  lies  the  possibility  of  his  economic  salva- 
tion. He  is  not  yet  ready  as  a  race  to  stand  alone  and  advance 
at  the  pace  demanded  by  America  of  the  twentieth  century.  He 
must  be  taught  and  the  teaching  must  be  by  practice  as  well  as 
by  precept.  Viewed  from  this  standpoint,  though  it  is  equally 
true  from  another,  one  of  the  great  needs  of  the  South  is  that  its 
white  farmers  should  pay  more  attention  to  other  things  than 
cotton.  So  long  as  land  is  considered  too  valuable  to  use  for. 
pasture,  for  hay,  for  the  various  crops  on  which  stock  live  and 
fatten,  or  so  long  as  it  is  considered  profitable  to  sell  cotton 
seed  for  $5  a  ton  and  throw  away  four  or  five  times  this  amount 
in  the  food  and  manure  which  the  same  seed  contains,  the  Negro 
will  not  see  the  advantage  of  a  different  system.  Nor  does  the 
sight  of  thousands  of  tons  of  rice  straw  dumped  into  the  Missis- 
sippi each  year,  just  as  a  generation  ago  the  oat  straw  in  Iowa 


was  burned,  lead  him  to  suspect  unused  sources  of  wealth.  The 
possibilities  of  Southern  agriculture  are  great,  but  the  lead  must 
be  taken  by  the  whites. 

The  Negro  has  a  great  advantage  over  the  Italian  or  other 
European  peasant  in  that  the  white  man  prefers  him  as  a  helper. 
He  is  patient,  docile  and  proud  of  his  work.  He  is  wanted  by  the 
native  whites,  and  if  the  reader  doubts  this  let  him  go  to  any 
Southern  community  and  attempt  to  bring  about  any  great  exodus 
of  the  Negroes  and  he  will  be  surprised  to  find  how  soon  he  is 
requested  to  move  on.  This  interest  on  the  part  of  the  whites 
is  a  factor  which  must  be  considered.  It  would  be  a  happy  day 
for  the  Negro  if  the  white*  woman  of  the  South  took  her  old 
personal  interest  in  his  welfare.  This  friendly  sentiment  will  not 
increase  with  time  and  each  succeeding  generation  will  emphasize, 
more  and  more,  industrial  efficiency,  and  the  Negro  will  not  be 
preferred.  Corresponding  to  this  is  the  fact  that  the  Negro  re- 
spects and  willingly  follows  the  white  man,  more  willingly  and 
more  trustingly  than  he  does  another  Negro.  He  is  personally 
loyal,  as  the  care  received'  by  the  soldiers  during  war  time  il- 
lustrated. But  slavery  is  gone  and  the  feudalism  which  followed 
it  is  slowly  vielding  to  commercialism,  which  gives  the  palm  to 
the  more  efficient. 

Hitherto  the  Negro  has  tilled  much  of  the  best  land  of  the 
South.  Meantime  the  great  prairies  have  been  settled  and  about 
all  the  good  cheap  land  of  the  northwest  taken.  A  tide  of  im- 
migration is  setting  in  towards  the  Southern  states.  Already 
the  rice  industry  of  Louisiana  has  been  revolutionized  by  white 
immigrants.  What  may  this  mean  for  the  Negro  if  these  in- 
coming whites  defy  race  prejudice  and  seek  the  rich  bottom 
lands  of  the  Mississippi  or  elsewhere?  Will  the  Negro  be  in  a 
position  of  independence  or  will  he  only  assist  the  white?  Will 
he  till, in  the  future  the  best  lands  or  will  he  be  forced  to  the  less 
fertile?  With  the  knowledge  of  the  present  regarding  yellow 
fever,  malaria  and  typhoid  the  dread  of  the  lowlands  is  disap- 
pearing. If  the  indications  point,  as  many  believe,  towards  the 
South  as  the  seat  of  the  next  great  agricultural  development  these 
questions  become  of  vital  importance  to  the  Negro.  Can  he  be- 
come economically  secure  before  he  is  made  to  meet  a  competition 
which  he  has  never  yet  faced?  Or  does  the  warmer  climate  give 
him  an  advantage,  which  the  whites  can  not  overcome?  I  must 
confess  that  I  doubt  it.  In  "The  Cotton  Plant"  (page  242)  Mr. 
Harry  Hammond  states  that  in  39  counties  of  the  Black  Prairie 
Region  of  Texas,  in  which  the  whites  predominate,  the  average  t 
value  of  the  land  is  $12.19  Per  acre,  as  against  $6.40  for  similar 
soil  in  twelve  counties  of  the  Black  Prairie  of  Alabama,  in  which 
the  Negroes  are  in  the  majority.  He  says  further:  "The  num- 
ber and  variety  of  implements  recently  introduced  in  cotton  cul- 
ture here,  especially  in  the  prairies  of  Texas,  is  very  much  greater 


than  elsewhere  in  the  cotton  belt.''  This  would  indicate  that  heat 
alone  is  no  insurmountable  obstacle. 

If  these  things  be  true,  then  as  the  late  Mr.  J.  L.  M.  Curry 
said: 

It  may  be  assumed  that  the  industrial  problem  lies  at  the  heart  of  the 
whole  situation  which  confronts  us.  Into  our  public  and  other  schools 
should  be  incorporated  industrial  training.  If  to  regularity,  punctuality, 
silence,  obedience  to  authority,  there  be  systematically  added  instruction  in 
mechanical  arts,  the  results  would  be  astounding." 

The  question  of  classical  education  does  not  now  concern  us. 

The  absolutely  essential  thing  is  that  the  Negro  shall  learn  to 
work  regularly  and  intelligently.  The  lesson  begun  in  slavery 
must  be  mastered.  As  Dr.  E.  G.  Murphy  puts  it: 

The  industrial  training  supplied  by  that  school  (slavery)  is  now  denied 
to  him.  The  capacity,  the  equipment,  and  the  necessity  for  work  which 
slavery  provided  are  the  direct  cause  of  the  superiority  of  the  old  time 
darkey.  Is  freedom  to  have  no  substitute  for  the  ancient  school  ?  *  *  * 
The  demand  of  the  situation  is  not  less  education,  but  more  education  of 
the  right  sort. 

I  would  not  say  that  I  thought  all  Negroes  should  be  farmers, 
but  I  do  feel  that  the  farm  offers  the  mass  of  the  race  the 
most  favorable  opportunity  for  the  development  of  solid  and  en- 
during character.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  following  words  from 
one  of  our  broadest  minded  men  apply  with  special  force  to  the 
Negro : 

If  I  had  some  magic  gift  to  bestow  it  would  be  to  make  our  country 
youth  see  one  truth,  namely,  -that  science  as  applied  to  the  farm,  the 
garden  and  the  forest  has  as  splendid  a  dignity  as  astronomy ;  that  it  may 
work  just  as  many  marvels  and  claim  just  as  high  an  order  of  talent." 


70 


CHAPTER  VI.     AGRICULTURAL  TRAINING. 

There  remain  to  be  considered  some  of  the  agencies  at  work 
to  better  the  lot  of  the  farmer.  In  this  I  shall  not  attempt  to 
.give  a  list  of  institutions  and*  outline  of  courses  but  to  indicate 
various  lines  of  work  which  seem  promising. 

In  discussing  the  training  of  the  Negro  farmer  credit  must 
first  be  given  to  the  white  planters  under  whom  he  has  learned 
so  much  of  what  he  knows.  Under  the  changing  conditions  of 
agriculture  this  training,  or  the  training  received  on  the  average 
farm  is  not  sufficient  and  must  be  supplemented  by  special  train- 
ing if  the  desired  results  are  to  be  obtained. 

It  probably  lay  in  the  situation  that  the  Negro  should  get  the 
idea  that  education  meant  freedom  from  labor.  It  is  none  the 
less  unfortunate  for  him.  To  counteract  this  idea  has  been  a 
difficult  matter  and  the  influence  of  the  average  school  has  not 
been  of  any  special  help.  The  country  school  taught  by  a  teacher, 
usually  incompetent  from  any  standpoint,  whose  interest  has  been 
chiefly  in  the  larger  salary  made  possible  by  his  "higher  educa- 
tion" has  not  been  an  unmixed  blessing.  The  children  have 
learned  to  read  and  write  and  have  preserved  their  notion  that 
if  only  they  could  get  enough  education  they  might  be  absolved 
from  manual  labor.  Even  today  Hampton  and  Tuskegee  and 
similar  schools  have  to  contend  with  the  opposition  of  parents 
who  think  their  children  should  riot  be  compelled  to  work,  for 
they  are  sent  to  school  to  enable  them  to  avoid  labor.  Quite 
likely  it  could  not  be  expected  that  the  country  school  should  hold 
up  a  higher  ideal,  for  here  we  have  to  do  with  the  beginnings 
of  a  system  of  instruction  which  had  to  make  use  of  such  ma-1 
terkl  as  it  could  find  for  teachers.  The  same  excuse  does  not 
suffice  to  explain  the  attitude  taken  by  the  bulk  of  schools  main- 
tained by  the  northern  whites  for  the  Negroes.  Their  inabilitv 
to  comprehend  the  needs  of  the  case  can  only  be  ascribed 
to  the  conception  of  a  Negro  as  a  white  man  with  a  black  skin 
and  a  total  failure  to  recognize  the  essential  conditions  of  race 
progress.  When  the  Roman  monks  penetrated  the  German  woods 
the  chief  benefits  thev  carried  were  not  embalmed  in  Lntin  gram- 
mars and  the  orations  of  Cicero,  but  were  embodied  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  agriculture  and  the  arts  which,  adopted  by  the  people, 
made  possible  later  the  German  civilization.  The  old  rescue  mis- 
sion sought  to  vank  the  sinner  out  of  the  slough  of  despond,  the 
social  settlement  seeks  to  help  him  who  has  fallen  in  the  contest 

71 


of  life  or  him  to  whom  the  opportunity  has  not  been  offered,  to 
climb,  recognizing  that  morality  and  religion  attend,  not  recede 
progress.  The  old  charity  gave  alms  and  the  country  was  over- 
run with  hordes  of  beggars ;  the  new  seeks  to  help  a  man  to  help 
himself.  A  similar  change  must  come  in  the  efforts  for  the  Negro. 
It  has  been  sought  to  give  him  the  fruits  of  civilization  without 
its  bases.  It  will  immediately  be  argued  that  this  is  wrong, 
that  the  chief  educational  work  has  been  but  primary  and  that 
little  so-called  "higher  education"  has  been  given.  This  is  true, 
even  to  the  extent  that  it  is  possible  to  find  a  town  of  5,000  inhabi- 
tants one-half  Negroes,  in  which  the  citv  provides  but  one  teacher 
for  the  black  children  and  the  balance  are  trained  in  a  school  sup- 
ported by  the  gifts  of  northern  people.  But,  and  this  is  the  im- 
portant thing,  the  spirit  of  the  education  has  been  clear  and 
definite  and  that  the  plan  has  not  been  carried  out  has  not  been 
due  to  lack  of  faith  in  it.  General  Armstrong,  thanks  to  his  ob- 
servations in  Hawaii,  perceived  that  a  different  course  was  neces- 
sary. His  mantle  fell  on  H.  F.  Frissell  and  Booker  T.  Washing- 
ton, so  Hampton  and  Tuskegee  have  been  the  chief  factors  in 
producing  the  ch?nsfe  which  has  been  noted  as  coming.  Now 
that  industrial  training  is  winning  support  it  is  amusing  to  note 
the  anxiety  of  other  schools  to  show  that  they  have  alwavs  believed 
in  it.  I  can  but  feel  that  had  the  plans  of  Gener?!  Armstrong 
been  widely  adopted,  had  the  teachers  been  trained  to  take  the 
people  where  they  were  and  lead  them  to  gradual  improvement,  that 
the  situation  today  would  be  radically  different.  It  is,  however, 
not  too  late  to  do  this  yet  and  the  widespread  founding  of  schools 
modeled  after  Hampton  and  Tuskegee  indicates  a  general  recog- 
nition of  the  needs  of  the  situation. 

Yet,  even  these  schools  have  not  turned  out  as  many  farmers 
PS  is  often  supposed.  On  examination  of  the  catalog  of  Tuskegee 
for  IQOI  I  find  only  sixteen  graduates  who  are  farming  and 
thirteen  of  these  have  other  occupations  (principally  teaching). 
The  combination,  I  think,  desirable  rather  than  otherwise.  Three 
others  are  introducing"  cotton  raising  in  Africa  under  the  German 
Government.  From  the  industrial  department  nine  have  received 
certificates  in  agriculture  and  six  in  dairying,  but  their  present 
occupations  are  not  given.  Asking  a  prominent  man  at  Tuskegee 
for  the  reason,  he  exclaimed,  rather  disgustedly,  that  they  dis- 
liked work  and  preferred  to  teach.  This  merely  indicates  the 
handicap  Tuskegee  has  to  overcome,  and  perhaps  the  average 
agricultural  college  of  the  North  cannot  show  a  higher  percentage 
of  farmers.  An  official  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  tells 
me  that  only  $  per  cent  of  the  graduates  of  the  agricultural  col- 
leges become  farmers.  To  show  how  much  agricultural  training 
is  given  at  Tuskegee  the  following  statement  for  the  year  1902-3 
is  of  interest :  No  pupil  is  counted  twice.  One  hundred  and 
eighty-one  students  are  engaged  in  the  actual  operations  of  the 
farm,  truck  garden,  orchard,  etc.  Seventy-nine  are  taking  the 

72 


dairying,  etc.,  and  207  are  taking  agriculture  as  part  of  their 
academic  work.  Yet,  more  of  the  graduates  become  professional 
men  (lawyers,  preachers,  etc.)  than  farmers,  the  proportion  be- 
ing about  three  to  one.  In  citing  Tusgekee  I  am,  of  course,  not 
forgetting  that  other  schools,  such  as  Tougaloo  and  Talledega, 
have  excellent  farms  and  are  seeking  (though  their  chief  em- 
phasis is  elsewhere)  to  give  agricultural  training. 

Reverting  to  the  different  lines  of  work  which  seem  hopeful, 
the  subject  may  be  subdivided  into  several  sections.  We  have 
first  to  do  with  the  efforts  to  make  the  young  child  appreciate 
Nature  and  become  interested  in  her  processes.  Perhaps  Hamp- 
ton has  developed  this  side  most  extensively,  both  in  the  little 
garden  plots  cultivated  by  the  children  and  the  nature  study 
leaflets  prepared  for  use  in  other  schools.  Personally  I  can  but 
feel  that  there  is  a  possibility  of  vastly  extending  such  instruction 
by  means  of  the  country,  schools.  If  they  may  be  consolidated, 
and  this  is  being  done  in  many  sections,  I  think  a  way  can  be 
found  to  make  the  school  house  the  social  center  of  the  district  in 
such  a  way  as  will  greatly  help  conditions. 

Actual  instruction  in  practical  farming,  dairying,  horticulture, 
etc.,  is  given  in  an  increasing  number  of  schools,  but  the  oppor- 
tunities are  still  very  inadequate  to  the  needs.  If  it  be  possible 
the  way  must  be  found  to  enable  the  Negro  to  use  more  and 
better  machinery.  The  average  planter  does  not  care  to  introduce 
expensive  machinery  lest  it  be  ruined  by  careless  and  ignorant 
tenants. 

These  industrial  schools  can  never  hope  to  reach  more  .than 
a  certain  percentage  of  the  people.  There  must  be  measures 
adopted  to  widen  the  influence  of  the  school.  Tuskegee  may  be 
mentioned  for  its  attempts  to  reach  out.  For  many  years  an 
annual  Farmers'  Conference  has  been  held  which  bids  fair  to  be- 
come the  Mecca  of  the  Nej?ro  farmer.  The  influence  exerted 
cannot  be  measured,  but  it  is  believed  to  be  preat.  One  weak 
spot  in  many  of  the  schools  is  that  they  have  little  if  any  direct 
influence  upon  the  life  of  the  communitv  in  which  they  are  situ- 
ated. There  are,  however,  some  exceptions.  The  Calhoun  Col- 
ored School  has  a  farmer's  association  meeting  monthly.  This 
is  made  up  chiefly  of  men  who  are  purchasing  land  through  a 
company  formed  by  the  school.  Topics  of  local  interest,  methods 
of  farming,  etc.,  are  the  subjects  for  discussion.  There  is  also 
a  mother's  meeting  with  subjects  of  more  domestic  interest,  with 
a  savings  department  for  co-operative  buying.  Curiously  enough 
the  formation  of  the  mother's  meeting  was  at  first  opposed  by 
the  men  (and  by  some  whites),  as  it  took  the  women  out  of  the 
fields  occasionally.  Now  it  is  more  favored.  As  Tuskegee  and 
many  other  places  there  are  similar  farmers'  associations,  of 
which*  no  special  mention  need  be  made.  Tuskegee  has  an  out- 
post some  miles  from  the  school  which  is  doing  a  general  neigh- 
borhood work.  The  following  papers  circulated  by  the  school 


73 


will  give  a  general  idea  of  their  conceptions  of  the  needs  as  well 
as  of  their  efforts  to  influence  conditions  for  the  better : 

MY  DAILY    WORK. 

I  may  take  in  washing,  but  every  day  I  promise  myself  that  f  will  do 
certain  work  for  my  family. 

I  will  set  the  table  for  every  meal.  I  will  wash  the  dishes  after  every 
meal. 

Monday,  I  will  do  my  family  washing.  I  will  put  my  bedclothes  out  to 
air.  I  will  clean  the  safe  with  hot  water  and  soap. 

Tuesday,  I  will  do  my  ironing  and  family  patching. 

Wednesday,  I  will  scrub  my  kitchen  and  clean  my  yard  thoroughly. 
Thursday,  I  will  clean  and  air  the  meal  and  pork  boxes.     I  will  scour 
my  pots  and  pans  with  soap  and  ashes. 

Friday,  I  will  wash  my  dish  cloth,  dish  towels  and  hand  towels.     I  will 
sweep  and  dust  my  whole  house  and  clean  everything  thoroughly. 

Sunday,  I  will  go  to  church  and  Sunday  school.  I  will  take  my  chil- 
dren with  me.  I  will  stay  at  home  during  the  remainder  of  the  day.  I 
will  try  to  read  something  aloud  helpful  to  all. 

QUESTIONS  THAT  I   WILL  PLEDGE  MYSELF  TO  ANSWER  AT  THE  END  OF  THE  YEAR. 

1.  How  many  bushels  of  potatoes,  corn,  beans,  peas  and  peanuts  have 
we  raised  this  year? 

2.  How  many  hogs  and  poultry  do  we  keep?. 

3.  How  much  poultry  have  we  raised? 

4.  How  many  bales  of  cotton  have  we  raised? 

5.  How  much  have  we  saved  t6  buy  a  home? 

6.  How  much  have  we  done  towards  planting  flowers  and  making  our 
yard  look  pretty? 

7.  How  many  kinds  of  vegetables  did  we  raise  in  our  home  garden? 

8.  How  many  times  did  we  stay  away  from  miscellaneous  excursions 
when  we  wished  to  go?    What  were  our  reasons  for  staying  at  home? 

9.  How  have  we  helped  our  boys  and  girls  to  stay  out  of  bad  company? 

10.  What  paper  have  we  taken,  and  why  have  we  taken  our  children  to 
church  and  had  them  sit  with  us? 

HOW    TO    MAKE    HOME    HAPPY. 

Keep  clean,  body  and  soul.  Remember  that  weak  minds,  diseased 
bodies,  bad  acts  are  often  the  result  of  bad  food. 

Remember  that  you  can  set  a  good  table  by  raising  fruit,  vegetables, 
grains  and  your  meat. 

Remember  that  you  intend  to  train  your  children  to  stay  at  home  out 
of  bad  company. 

Remember  that  if  you  would  have  their  minds  and  yours  clean,  you 
will  be  obliged  to  help  them  learn  something  outside  the  school  room. 
Remember,  that  you  can  do  this  in  no  better  way  than  by  taking  a  good 
paper — the  New  York  Weekly  Witness  or  The  Sabbath  Reading,  published 
in  New  York,  cost  very  little.  Have  your  children  read  to  you  from  the 
Bible  and  from  the  papers. 

YOUR    NEEDS. 

You  need  chairs  in  your  house.  Get  boxes.  Cover  with  bright  calico, 
and  use  them  for  seats  until  you  can  buy  chairs. 

You  need  plates,  knives  and  forks,  spoons  and  table  cloths.  Buy  them 
with  the  tobacco  and  snuff  money. 

You  need  more  respect  for  self.  Get  it  by  staying  away  from  street 
corners,  depots  and,  above  all,  excursions. 

You  need  to  stay  away  from  these  excursions  to  keep  out  of  bad  com- 
pany, out  of  court,  out  of  jail,  and  out  of  the  disgust  of  every  self-respect- 
ing person. 

You  need  more  race  pride.  Cultivate  this  as  you  would  your  crops.  It 
will  mean  a  step  forward. 

You  need  a  good  home.  Save  all  you  can.  Get  your  home,  and  that 
will  bring  you  nearer  citizenship. 

74 


You  can  supply  all  these  needs.  When  will  you  begin  ?  Every  moment 
of  delay  is  a  loss. 

HOW    TO    BECOME    PROSPEROUS. 

1.  Keep  no  more  than  one  dog. 

2.  Stay  away  from  court. 

3.  Buy  no  snuff,  tobacco  and  whisky. 

4.  Raise  your  own  pork. 

5.  Raise  your  vegetables. 

6.  Put  away  thirty  cents  for  every  dollar  you  spend. 

7.  Keep  a  good  supply  of  poultry.    Set  your  hens.    Keep  your  chickens 
until  they  will  bring  a  good  price. 

8.  Go  to  town  on  Thursday  instead  of  Saturday.     Buy  no  more  than 
you  need.     Stay  in  town  no  longer  than  necessary. 

9.  Starve  rather  than  sell  your  crops  before  you  raise  them.    Let  your 
mind  be  fixed  on  that  the  first  day  of*January,  and  stick  to  that  every  day 
in  the  year. 

10.     Buy  land  and  build  you  a  home. 

The  various  states  are  beginning  to  establish  institutions  in 
which  agriculture  and  industrial  training  may  be  given.  Among 
these  may  be  mentioned  that  of  Alabama  at  Normal,  and  of  Missis- 
sippi at  Westside.  Alabama  has  also  established  an  experiment 
station  in  connection  with  the  Tuskegee  Institute. 

In  Texas  there  is  an  interesting  movement  among  the  Negro 
farmers  known  as  the  "Farmers'  Improvement  Society."  The 
objects  are : 

1.  Abolition  of  the  credit  system. 

2.  Stimulate  improvements  in  farming. 

3.  Co-operative  buying. 

4.  Sickness  and  life  insurance. 

5.  Encouragement  of  purchase  of  land  and  home. 

The  Association  holds  a  fair  each  year  which  is  largely  at- 
tended. According  to,  the  Galveston  News  of  October  12,  1902, 
the  society  has  about  3,000  members,  who  own  some  50,000  acres 
of  land,  more  than  8,000  cattle  and  7,000  horses  and  mules.  This 
organization,  founded  and  maintained  entirely  by  Negroes,  prom- 
ises much  in  many  ways.  In  October,  1902,  a  fair  was  held  in 
connection  with  the  school  at  Calhoun,  Ala.,  with  83  exhibitors 
and  416  entries,  including  48  from  the  school  and  a  very  creditable 
showing  of  farm  products  and  live  stock. 

Besides  these  general  lines  which  seem  to  be  of  promise  it 
is  in  place  to  mention  a  couple  of  attempts  to  get  the  Negroes 
to  purchase  land.  There  have  been  not  a  few  persons  who  have 
sold  land  to  them  on  the  installment  plan  with  the  expectation 
that  later  payments  would  be  forfeited  and  the  land  revert.  There 
are  some  enterprises  which  are  above  suspicion.  I  am  not  re- 
ferring now  to  private  persons  or  railroad  companies  who  have 
sold  large  tracts  to  the  Negroes,  but  to  organizations  whose  ob- 
jects are  to  aid  the  blacks  in  becoming  landholders.  The  Land 
Company  at  Calhoun,  Ala.,  started  in  1896,  buying  1,040  acres 
of  land,  which  was  accurately  surveyed  and  divided  into  plots 
of  fifty  acres,  so  arranged  that  each  farm  should  include  different 
sorts  of  land.  This  was  sold  to  the  Negroes  at  cost  price,  $8  per 

75 


acre,  the   purchasers  to  pay  8  per   cent  on   deferred  payments. 
The  sums  paid  by  the  purchasers  each  year  have  been  as  follows : 

1896 — $    741.03.     Found  later  to  be  borrowed  money  in  the  main. 

1897 — $1,485.15.     Largely  borrowed  money. 

1898 — $   367.34.     Men  paying  back  borrowed  money.    Advances  large. 


1899- i 
1900 — J 
1901- 


374-77- 

51,649.25.     Money  not  borrowed.     Advances  small. 
871.49.     Bad  year.     Poor  crops.     Money  not  borrowed. 


1902 — $2,280.42.     Advances  very  small.     Outlook  encouraging. 

There  have  been  some  failures  on  part  of  tenants,  and  it  has 
been  necessary  to  gradually  select  the  better  men  and  allow  the 
others  to  drop  out.  The  company  has  paid  all  expenses  and  in- 
terest on  its  capital.  A  second  plantation  has  been  purchased  and 
is  being"  sold.  There  is  a  manager  who  is  a  trained  farmer,  and 
by  means  of  the  farmers'  association  already  mentioned  much 
pressure  is  brought  to  bear  on  the  Negroes  to  improve  their 
condition.  The  results  are  encouraging.  In  Macon  County  the 
Southern  Land  Company  has  purchased  several  thousand  acres 
which  it  is  selling  in  much  the  same  way,  but  it  is  too  early  to 
speak  of  results.  Even  at  Calhoun  but  few  of  the  men  have  yet 
gotten  deeds  for  their  land. 

A  word  regarding  the  methods  of  the  Southern  Land  Com- 
pany will  be  of  interest.  The  land  was  carefully  surveyed  in 
forty-acre  plots.  These  are  sold  at  $8  per  acre,  the  payments 
covering  a  period  of  seven  years.  The  interest  is  figured  in  ad- 
vance, and  to  each  plot  is  charged  a  yearly  fee  of  $5  for  manage- 
ment. In  this  total  is  also  included  the  cost  of  house  and  well 
(a  three-roomed  cabin  is  furnished  for  about  $100,  a  well  for 
$10).  This  sum  is  then  divided  into  seven  equal  parts  so  that 
the  purchaser  knows  in  advance  just  what  he  must  pay  each  year. 
The  object  of  the  company  is  to  encourage  home  ownership.  Un- 
til the  place  is  paid  for  control  of  the  planting,  etc.,  remains  with 
the  manager  of  the  company.  Advances  are  in  cash  (except 
fertilizers),  as  no  store  is  conducted  by  the  company  and  interest 
is  charged  at  8  per  cent  for  the  money  advanced  and  for  the  time 
said  money  is  used. 

On  this  place  in  1902,  H.  W.,  a  man  aged  68,  with  wife  and 
three  children,  owning  a  horse,  a  mule  and  two  cows,  did  as  fol- 
lows .  He  pncl  his  son-in-law  are  buvingf  eighty  acres.  Thev 
made  a  good  showing  for  the  first  vear  under  considerable  diffi- 
culties and  on  bnd  by  no  ^e^ns  rich : 

Debits.  Credits. 

Fertilizer     $34-88         Cotton    $390.32 

White wa.shing    3.00 

Liming    19.76 

Lease   contract    180.00 

Cash     130.36 

Interest   3.12 

$371.12 


Balance  Jan.  i,  1903..$  19.20 

76 


This  leads  me  to  mention  the  question  of  land  ownership  on 
the  part  of  the  Negroes.  This  has  not  been  mentioned  hitherto 
for  several  reasons.  In  the  first  place  the  data  for  any  detailed 
knowledge  of  the  subject  are  not  to  be  had.  Few  states  make 
separate  record  of  land  owned  by  the  blacks  as  distinct  from  gen- 
eral ownership.  The  census  has  to  depend  upon  the  statements  of 
the  men  themselves,  and  I  have  heard  tenants  solemnly  argue 
that  they  owned  the  land.  Again  a  very  considerable  proportion 
of  the  land  owned  is  also  heavily  mortgaged,  and  these  mort- 
gages are  not  always  for  improvements.  Nor  is  it  by  any  means 
self  evident  that  land  ownership  necessarily  means  a  more  ad- 
vanced condition  than  where  land  is  rented.  Moreover,  a  consid- 
erable proportion  of  the  farms  owned  are  so  small  that  they  do 
not  suffice  to  support  the  owners.  Conditions  varv  in  different 
districts.  In  Virginia  it  has  been  possible  to  buy  a  few  acres 
at  a  very  low  price.  In  parts  of  Alabama,  or  wherever  the  land 
has  been  held  in  large  estates  in  recent  years,  it  has  often  been 
impossible  for  the  Negro  to  purchase  land  in  small  lots.  Thus, 
though  I  believe  heartily  in  land  ownership  for  the  blacks-  and 
believe  that  well  conducted  land  associations  will  be  beneficial, 
I  cannot  think  that  this  alone  will  solve  the  questions  confronting 
us.  Retrogression  is  possible  even  with  land  ownership.  Other 
things  are  necessarv-  On  the  basis  of  existing  data  the  best 
article  with  which  I  am  acquainted  on  this  subject  appeared  in 
the  Southern  Workman  for  January,  1903,  written  by  Dr.  G.  S. 
Dickerman,  in  which  he  showed  that  among  the  Negro  farmers 
the  owners  and  managers  formed  59.8  per  cent  of  the  total  in 
Virginia,  57.6  per  cent  in  Maryland,  48.6  per  cent  in  Kentucky, 
falling  as  we  sro  South  to  15.1  per  cent  in  Alabama,  16.4  per 
cent  in  Mississippi,  and  16.2  per  cent  in  Louisiana,  rising  to  30.9 
per  cent  in  Texas.  Evidently  the  forces  at  work  are  various. 

Within  a  few  months,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Horace 
Plunkett,  of  the  Irish  Agricultural  Organization  Society,  a  new 
work  has  been  taken  up,  whose  course  will  be  watched  with  great 
interest.  I  quote  from  a  letter  of  Mr.  Plunkett  to  Dr.  Wallace 
Buttrick,  of  the  General  Education  Board : 

From  what  I  have  seen  of  the  negro  character,  my  own  impression  is 
that  the  race  has  those  leader-following  propensities  which  characterize 
the  Irish  people.  It  has,  too,  I  suspect,  in  its  mental  composition  the 
same  vein  of  idealism  which  my  own  countrymen  possess,  and  which 
makes  them  susceptible  to  organization,  and  especially  to  those  forms  of 
organization  which  require  the  display  of  the  social  qualities  to  which  I 
have  alluded  and  which  you  will  have  to  develop.  These  characteristics, 
which  express  themselves  largely,  the  old  plantation  songs,  in  the  form 
of  religious  exercises,  and  in  the  maintenance  of  a  staff  of  preachers  out 
of  all  proportion  I  should  think,  to  the  spiritual  requirements,  should,  in 
my  opinion,  lend  themselves  to  associative  action  for  practical  ends  if 
the  organizing  machinery  necessary  to  initiate  such  action  were  provided. 

What,  then,  is  my  practical  suggestion?  It  is  that  your  board,  if  it 
generally  approves  of  the  idea,  should  take  one,  two,  or,  at  the  most, 
three  communities,  such  as  that  we  inquired  about,  and  organize  them  on 
the  Irish  plan.  The  farmers  should  at  first  be  advised  to  confine  their 

77 


efforts  to  some  simple  object,  such  as  the  joint  purchase  of  their  immediate 
agricultural  requirements.  *  *  *  I  would  at  first  deal  solely  with 
the  colored  people,  beginning  in  a  very  small  way,  leaving  larger  develop- 
ments for  the  future  to  decide. 

Hampton  Institute  has  taken  up  the  suggestion  and  is  planning 
to  organize  a  community.  Everything  will,  of  course,  depend  on 
the  management  as  well  as  on  the  people.  If  the  results  are  as 
satisfactory  as  they  have  been  in  Ireland  the  efforts  will  be  well 
expended. 

With  this  brief  and  incomplete  account  we  must  take  leave 
of  the  Negro  farmer.  Throughout  the  thesis  I  have  attempted 
to  keep  two  or  three  fundamental  propositions  constantly  in  sight. 
Briefly  summarized  these  are  that  we  have  to  do  with  a  race  whose 
inherited  characteristics  are  largely  of  African  origin;  that  these 
have  been  somewhat  modified  under  American  influences,  but  are 
still  potent;  that  the  economic  environment  in  America  is  not 
a  unit  and  must  finally  result  in  the  creation  of  different  types 
among  the  blacks;  that  the  needs  of  the  different  habitats  are 
various;  that  the  segregation  from  the  mass  of  the  whites  is 
fraught  with  serious  consequences ;  that  measures  of  wider  appli- 
cation must  be  adopted  if  the  Negro  is  to  bear  his  proper  part  in 
the  progress  of  the  country ;  that  owing  to  the  great  race  differ- 
ences the  whites  must  take  an  active  interest  in  the  blacks ;  that 
in  spite  of  the  many  handicaps  under  which  the  Negro  struggles 
the  outlook  is  not  hopeless  if  his  willingness  to  work  can  so  be  di- 
rected that  a  surplus  will  result.  To  my  mind  the  Negro  must 
work  out  his  salvation,  economic  and  social.  It  cannot  be  given 
without  destroying  the  very  thing  we  seek  to  strengthen — char- 
acter. This  is  the  justification  for  the  emphasis  now  laid  upon 
industrial  training.  This  training  and  the  resulting  character 
are  the  pre-requisites  of  all  race  progress.  Industrial  education 
is  thus  not  a  fad  nor  a  mere  expedient  to  satisfy  the  selfish  de- 
mands of  southern  whites.  It  is  the  foundation  without  which 
the  superstructure  is  in  vain.  If  I  have  fairly  stated  the  diffi- 
culties in  the  way  and  have  shown  the  possibility  of  ultimate 
success,  I  am  content.  For  the  future  I  am  hopeful. 


MAPS   SHOWING   THE    DISTRIBUTION   OF   THE 
NEGROES   IN   THE    SOUTHERN    STATES 


These  maps  are  particularly  referred  to  in  Chapter  II.   The  chief 

geological  districts  are  indicated.  The  figures  are  based  upon 

the  census  of  1900.     The  maps  are  here  included  in  the 

hope  that  they  may  prove  of  value  to  students 

of  the  problems  herein  discussed. 


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S         P    '  p  o 


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83 


I          I  I  Less  than  10%  Negroes 
r.".      10  to  25%  Negroes. 


50  "  75% 
75  "  90% 
90  "  ioo% 


SOUTH  CAROLINA 
NEGRO  PERCENTAGE  OF  TOTAL  POPULATION,  1900 

Total  Whites  in  State 557.807 

Total  Negroes  in  State 782,321 


Negroes  form  58.4%  of  total 


1,340,128 


84 


Less  than.io  Negroes 
per  square  mile. 

""•    •!  10  to  25  Negroes  per 
I lJ      square  mile. 

1  20  to  30  Negroes  per 

1       square  mile. 

-H+H  30  to  50  Negroes  per 
ii  1 1 II      square  mile. 

50  to  100  Negroes  per 
3      square  mile. 

a  Over  100  Negroes  per 
iliUlllill      square  mile. 


SOUTH  CAROLINA 
NEGROES  PER  SQUARE  MILE,  1900 

Square  Miles  in  State 30,170 

Average  Negroes  to  Square  Mile  ..       25.1 
Average  Whites  to  Square  Mile 17.9 


GEORGIA 

NEGRO  PERCENTAGE  OF  TOTAL  POPULATION,  1900 

Total  Whites  in  State 1,181,294 

Total  Negroes  in  State 1,034,813 


Negroes  form  46.7%  of  total 


2,216,107 


Less  than  10  Negroo 
per  square  mile. 

10  to  25  Negroes  pei 
square  mile. 

1  20  to  30  Negroes  pei 

1      square  mile. 

30  to  50  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 

50  to  100  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 

Over  100  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 


GEORGIA 

NEGROES  PER  SQUARE  MILE,  1900 

Square  Miles  in  State 58>98° 

Average  Negroes  per  Square  Mile..       17.6 
Average  Whites  per  Square  Mile  . .       19.9 

87 


Less  than  \o%  Negroes. 
.'.'I    10  to   25%  Negroes. 

IJJ  25  "  50% 
50  "  75% 
75  "  90% 
90  ••  100% 


__^*  -~».  8anta  Rosa 


FLORIDA 

NEGRO  PERCENTAGE  OF  POPULATION,  1900 

Total  Whites 297»333 

Total  Negroes 230,730 

528,063 
Negroes  form  43.7%  of  total 


4-  L.1J 


Less  than  10  Negroes 
per  square  mile. 

10  to  25  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 

20  to  30  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 

30  to  50  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 

50  to  IOO  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 

Over  100  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 


FLORIDA 

NEGROES  PER  SQUARE  MILE,  1900 

Square  miles  in  State 54,24° 

Average  Negroes  per  Mile 

Average  Whites  per  Mile 


ALABAMA 


Total  Whites  in  State 1,001,152 

Total  Negroes  in  State 827,307 


Negroes  form  45.2%  of  total 


1,828,459 


90 


Less  than  10  Negroes 
per  square  mile. 

10  to  25  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 

20  to  30  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 

30  to  50  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 

50  to  100  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 

Over  100  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 


•     ALABAMA 
NEGROES  PER  SQUARE  MILE,  1900 

Square  Miles  in  State. 5i>54° 

Average  Negroes  per  Mile 16 

Average  Whites  per  Mile ig-4 

91 


Less  than  IO%  Negroes. 
10  to  25%  Negroes. 


MISSISSIPPI 
NEGRO  PERCENTAGE  OF  TOTAL  POPULATION,  1900 

Negro  Percentage  in  State 58.5 

Total  Whites 641,200 

Total  Negroes  907,630 

1,548,830 


Less  than  10  Negroes 
per  square  mile 

10  to  25  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 

20  to  30  Negroes  per 
square  m'ile. 

30  to  50  Negroes  per 
sfluare  mile. 

50  to  IOO  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 

Over  ioo  Negroes  per 
square  mile.         ~J. 


MISSISSIPPI 
'  NEGROES  PER  SQUARE  MILE,  1900 

Average  Negroes  per  Square  Mile  . . .  ig-58 
Average  Whites  per  Square  Mile  ....  13-82 
Square  Miles  in  State 46,34° 


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I  I   Less  than  10%  Negroes. 


LOUISIANA 
NEGRO  PERCENTAGE  OF  TOTAL  POPULATION,  1900 

Total  Whites  in  State 729,612 

Total  Negroes  in  State 650,804 

Negroes  form  47.1%  of  total 


100 


Less  than  10  Negroes 
per  square  mile. 

10  to  25  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 

20  to  30  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 

30  to  50  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 

50  to  100  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 


Over  100  Negroes  per 
square  mile. 


LOUISIANA 

NEGROES  PER  SQUARE  MILE,  1900 

Square  Miles  in  State 45,4*0 

Average  Negroes  per  Mile H-3, 

Average  Whites  per  Mile    


101 


I   Less  than  IO%  Negroes. 
.".*    IO  to  25%  Negroes. 


EASTERN  TEXAS 

Whites  in  District 1,747,052 

Negroes  in  District 608,301 

Negro  Percentage  in  State  . . .  20.4 

In  District  Covered 25 


102 


less  than  10  Negroes 
per  square  mile. 


EASTERN  TEXAS 

NEGROES  PER  SQUARE  MILE,  1900 

Square  Miles  included 60,453 

Average  Negro 88 

Average  White 28'8 

Includes  all  Counties  with  one  Negro  per  Squa 

103 


1 7  04  2  5 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SANTA  CRUZ 


This  book  is  due  on  the  last  DATE  stamped  below. 


NOV  1  0  197} 


DFC4 
JUN    51984 


50m-12,'70(Pl251s8)2373-3A,l 


tf 


3  2106  00058  7441 


